We're Going to the Supreme Court...

Sep 22, 2020

Liberty Counsel is taking our Illinois Romanian churches case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite what the media may have reported, the Supreme Court has not issued any rulings to date on the merits of cases concerning restrictions on churches. Read on to learn how, with your help, two Romanian immigrant pastors and their churches are fighting to keep religious freedom in America free. -Mat

 
Before I share with you the next step in our Romanian churches case, let me first debunk the egregiously false media reporting that the Supreme Court has already ruled against churches. The Court has not issued any ruling on the merits regarding the orders restricting churches. The various cases around the nation were not ready for the Court to issue a decision. But now there are two cases ready for the Court's review, and both are Liberty Counsel cases.

The Pastors of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Logos Baptist Ministries emigrated to America after years of living and preaching under Soviet Romanian rule. Under Communism, Christians are always severely oppressed.

Bibles had to be smuggled into Communist Romania. Confiscated Bibles were shredded and made into toilet paper. Pastors were arrested, Christians punished, and some believers were jailed or exterminated. Even private houses where underground worship services were held were demolished if they were discovered.

When these pastors and their flocks fled to America, they did so because of the promise of religious freedom. But now they are experiencing the same governmental attacks on their faith they experienced in Romania!

IL Gov. J.B. Pritzker first tried to ban church services, then limited attendance to 10 people regardless of the size of the sanctuary. His order permitted nonreligious meetings in churches, but restricted religious meetings in the same building. Yet abortion clinics, marijuana dispensaries, liquor stores and big-box stores were deemed “essential.”
After closing their churches for weeks, the pastors began holding worship services with social distancing, sanitation and limited capacity.

Then, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot towed the neighbors’ cars within nine blocks of the church buildings, hoping to incite the neighbors against the churches. But the neighbors knew the churches did not use street parking. So, the mayor dispatched five police cars to block the private church parking lot.

When that didn’t work either, the mayor became furious. She charged the pastors with "Disorderly Conduct" for having more than 10 people in church.

Then, the city issued a "Summary Abatement" letter, declaring the church to be a "public nuisance" and threatening to immediately seize and bulldoze the church buildings should more than 10 people gather for worship.

But these courageous Romanians continued to meet for worship. They were not about to return to the Communism they had escaped!

Liberty Counsel filed for an emergency injunction pending appeal with the Supreme Court. Within four hours of his response, Gov. Pritzker lifted his unconstitutional church restrictions. However, he refused to commit to the Court of Appeals that he would not implement those same, or worse, restrictions in the future. So now Liberty Counsel will be filing for a full Supreme Court review of our case.

Our Romanian churches case will be the first to be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court requesting final review of these oppressive, unconstitutional orders.

We have spent many hours on the voluminous legal documents. This case has a high potential to set national precedent and stop the Marxist oppression against pastors and churches in America.

As it now stands, there are just a few cases making their way through the federal Courts of Appeal. Liberty Counsel is lead counsel in five of those cases pending at the Courts of Appeal — representing churches in Kentucky, Maine, Virginia, Illinois and California. This month, we are filing a sixth case in Colorado. Earlier, we won two 3-0 decisions in our Kentucky case at the Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, at least two other federal lawsuits on behalf of churches have been handled by other legal teams. Their cases in the Fifth and the Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal issued split decisions. With the 2-2 split of the Courts of Appeal, our Romanian churches case presents a prime opportunity for the Supreme Court to settle these disputes once and for all.
Our Romanian churches case is the first one to reach the Supreme Court in a position at which the Court can issue a ruling on the merits.

Our Vice President of Legal Affairs and Chief Litigation Counsel, Horatio Mihet, was raised in Communist Romania and his father was a pastor. The stories Harry (as we call him) has shared with me about the secret police banging on their door in the middle of the night with their growling German Shepherds to search for smuggled Bibles are truly chilling.

Harry has also told me that when the communist agents discovered Bibles, they would shred them and make toilet paper. But like all evil-doers, communists are not so smart. It turns out that when you shred pages with writing on them, sometimes you can still read bits and pieces. The Romanian people were so hungry for the Word of God that they would glean snippets of Bible verses from the toilet paper!

As a 12-year old boy, Harry experienced freedom for the first time in his life on December 25, 1989, when the tyrant Nicolae Ceausescu was executed. Harry, like the Romanian pastors we represent, came to America because it was the “land of the free.” They yearned for religious freedom.

Stand with us as we stand with these Romanian pastors and churches to keep America free.

I am so thankful for your unwavering support. As you know, Liberty Counsel never charges for our legal services — even in Supreme Court cases which bring extraordinarily high expenses. Few pastors or churches could afford to fight for their liberties in cases like these.
YOUR generosity ensures that Liberty Counsel can defend our unalienable constitutional freedom of religion, not just for these churches, but for every church in America.

A generous challenge grant will DOUBLE your impact in helping defend America’s churches. Please, do not let this blessing pass you by. This will be a long battle, but with your help and God’s grace, we will prevail!

"They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you." Jeremiah 1:19

Mat Staver,


Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
P.S. Please don't let this challenge grant opportunity pass you by. Pastors and churches are relying on YOU to help ensure religious freedom remains FREE! The challenge grant will DOUBLE your impact to defend religious freedom. Select here or the graphic below.


P.P.S. If we had consistently voted biblical values, these rogue governors would not be restricting churches today. That's why I am offering our "Silence Is Not an Option" training course FOR FREE. This vital training details exactly what pastors and churches can do politically. Arm yourself, your pastor, and your church NOW, before it is too late. Select here to get your "Silence Is Not an Option" download now.


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