Letters to the Editor: Supreme Court, you can catch COVID-19 at home Bible studies

To the editor: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” So begins the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, written by framers who were well aware of the hundreds of years of religious warfare across the Old World that extended into their lifetimes. (“In 5-4 vote, Supreme Court lifts California’s COVID ban on group Bible study in homes,” April 9)

I have always felt the first half in the amendment is clearly demonstrating a freedom from religion, which perhaps arguably shows a preference over the second half, which states the well-known freedom of religion.

With its recent decisions invalidating some of California’s actions to protect people from dying of COVID-19, the Supreme Court is in fact respecting an establishment of religion over the safety of Americans and our right to be free from religion in our lives.

These decisions are simply medieval and are a threat to life itself. What terrifies me is the precedent they set for our next pandemic.

Charles Manley, Ojai

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To the editor: So five Supreme Court justices have effectively decided that in-home religious gatherings are somehow different from in-home non-religious gatherings and therefore pose less risk of COVID-19 transmission.

I would have liked to have had a group of friends over to my house during the pandemic, but that was not allowed. Apparently I should have just started each cocktail hour with a Bible reading, and I would have been both medically and constitutionally protected.

Who knew?

John Hamilton Scott, Sherman Oaks