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Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz rescinded occupancy requirements on the state’s houses of worship earlier this week following a lawsuit from the Thomas More Society and voter initiatives to recall him.
Walz’s Executive Order 21-11, which was approved on March 15, 2021, lifted the last remaining restriction on church attendance in Minnesota, which had capped occupancy at 50 percent. The restrictions remain in effect for bars and restaurants.
“The dominoes are falling in favor of abolishing the states’ limitations on church attendance,” Thomas More Society special counsel Erick Kaardal said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “Minnesota has abolished its church attendance limitations. Next, our plan is to similarly abolish all the other states’ remaining limitations on church attendance, which have been occurring nationwide.”
The Thomas More Society filed the lawsuit against Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison last August, arguing on behalf of three churches that the state’s mandate regarding attendance limits violated their religious liberties. The churches involved include Cornerstone Church of Alexandria in Alexandra, Minnesota, Life Spring Church in Crosby, Minnesota, and Calvary Chapel in St. Paul.
The Thomas More Society, a non-profit national public interest law firm based in Chicago, has filed similar lawsuits across the country, perhaps most notably on behalf of Grace Community Church and their senior pastor John MacArthur in Los Angeles.
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