As expected, a pastor in California has decided to act as though an emergency temporary restraining order requiring him to not hold indoor worship services does not exist.
As CBS Newsreports, Godspeak Calvary Chapel pastor Rob McCoy held services on Sunday despite the order and other statewide health initiatives that have been put in place as part of continued efforts to stall the spread of COVID-19. The restraining order, which was issued Friday by Ventura County officials, notably requires the Godspeak team to shutter their indoor operations and instead convert all activities to an outdoors setup where attendees would be told to mask up and keep their distance.
Ahead of this display of inanity, McCoy had threatened to do exactly this during a livestream event excerpted above. In the comments section of the Godspeak YouTube upload, you'll find—though I am in no way suggesting you should bother doing so—a troublingly large amount of comments defending McCoy's actions. These comments, which depressingly make clear just how long virus-related problems will likely continue here in the States, range from calls for something called a "Jesus Matters protest" to "This is a spiritual battle." In other words, we are all so very fucked.
Per the aforementioned CBS report, it wasn't immediately clear whether McCoy or related life-risking churchgoers had been cited for the stunt on Sunday. Meanwhile, a hearing is set for later this month regarding the emergency restraining order.
