The 3 - June 28, 2020

On this week's edition of The 3, with three stories of relevance to the Christian community, there is news out of Nigeria, where there have been several attacks on Christian villages.  Also, there is a positive court ruling for New York City residents about the size of gatherings, including churches, during the COVID-19 crisis.  And, in a disappointing development from California, a church has been forced by the city not to be able to worship in its own building.

Concern over Christian persecution in Nigeria

We are continuing to experience a worldwide health crisis, but there is another crisis that continues to proliferate in various parts of the world, as well - that is the virus of Christian persecution, and a government organization that monitors religious freedom around the world is crying foul about what is occurring in the African nation of Nigeria.

Baptist Press reports that:

The Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram faction, is blamed for three June attacks in Northeast Nigeria that killed at least 121 and injured hundreds of residents of Christian villages, according to news reports. At least 20 Nigerian soldiers were also killed.

The United States Commission on international Religious Freedom (USCIRF) encouraged the Nigerian government to protect religious freedoms under attack there.

The Commission is an arm of the State Department, and made a statement on June 22 about the conditions in that country. Vice Chair Tony Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council, said: "The Nigerian government needs to be doing more to protect the freedom of religion, particularly in the northeast region," adding, "Over two years after ISWAP abducted Leah Sharibu, it is unacceptable to see the group continue to inflict such devastation on the Nigerian people."  Leah was one of 110 girls who were taken from a school in Dapchi in 2018; that ISWAP faction killed four and then released 105, leaving just Leah, who reportedly refused to yield to Islam.

USCIRF Vice Chair Anurima Bhargava stated, "Hundreds have died in recent weeks as ISWAP continues to inflict terror and target civilians based on their beliefs," adding, "Recent ISWAP attacks on innocent civilians are reprehensible. We condemn this deplorable violence."

The Baptist Press article said:

In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF urged the U.S. State Department to designate Nigeria a "country of particular concern" and to designate Boko Haram an "entity of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act for "engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom."

New York officials overruled by court over gatherings

Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, there has been tension between governmental leaders and churches regarding restrictions on gatherings. The Christian legal advocacy organization Liberty Counsel reports on a significant ruling by a Federal district judge against officials in the state of New York: Governor Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.  Liberty Counsel states:

Senior U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe issued a preliminary injunction and said that Governor Cuomo is wrong to limit worship services as a “matter of public safety” yet condone mass protests. In awarding the injunction, the court noted that “nonessential businesses” that enjoy a 50 percent capacity limitation are not justifiably different than houses of worship.

The three officials are "enjoined and restrained" from placing restrictions on houses of worship that are in excess of restrictions on other indoor gatherings and from restricting outdoor religious gatherings as long as social distancing guidelines are being followed.

The legal organization reported that Sharpe said that Cuomo and de Blasio "could have just as easily discouraged protests, short of condemning their message, in the name of public health and exercised discretion to suspend enforcement for public safety reasons instead of encouraging what they knew was a flagrant disregard of the outdoor limits and social distancing rules."  Or, they could have remained silent, the judge noted.

California city determines church cannot meet in its own building

It's not related to the Coronavirus, but a church in California has experienced restrictions so excessive that it cannot meet in its own building in Salinas, CA, according to a FoxNews.com story, which reports:

A federal court in the San Francisco Bay Area ruled an evangelical church does not contribute to a city's goals of a vibrant and fun atmosphere, and therefore can be excluded from operating in downtown Salinas, Calif.

The New Harvest Christian Fellowship, a church that rented space along Salinas' Main Street for more than 25 years, purchased a building on that same street in 2018.

The church intended to use the first floor as a worship center, but the city intervened.

The church went to court, and a Federal Magistrate Judge, Susan van Keulen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said, according to Fox, that the "church generates limited interest. It does not draw tourists, the court said, and therefore detracts from the city’s goals of 'vibrancy' as well as a 'street of fun..."

Kevin Snider, chief counsel for Pacific Justice Institute, which represents the church, told Fox News that the city "deems churches as less deserving of equal treatment under the law than the live children’s theatre, two cinemas, and event center" that are in the downtown area.