Propositions

By: Roy Douglas Malonson   The COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic still has people trying to figure out how to protect ourselves and our loved ones, whether we dine in or dine out at restaurants, and what buildings should remain open or closed. Texas Governor Greg Abbott became the center of scrutiny at the start of the schoolyear after mandating that students and staff NOT wear masks, and now, on the Nov. 2 ballot is Texas Proposition 3, which decides what rights houses of worships have. Do you know what Texas Proposition 3 is? Not many do, but you should. If voted into the Texas constitution, it will forbid state and local governments from limiting in-person gatherings regardless of threats to overall public health. This proposed constitutional amendment, if passed, would protect churches and places of worship, as well as religious organizations, from being shut down by the government like they were when the pandemic first struck. “I am in support of protections of our religious freedom,” said Rev. T. Leon Preston II, Yale Street Baptist Church. “Religious leaders should have the freedom of choice to determine whether we would shut down, based upon all knowledge and wisdom we gain from the medical experts. Leave that choice in our hands. “ Steven T. Collis, founding director of Texas’ Law and Religion Clinic, says Proposition 3 is designed to ensure states can’t close or limit churches the way many governing bodies did at the start of the pandemic to combat the spread of COVID-19. “There are almost no circumstances where government should be able to order the closing of a church, but a truly deadly pandemic would be one of them. The new statutory and constitutional language would remove any flexibility for government to close churches even if it did have a compelling interest, even if we faced a pandemic far deadlier than COVID,” Collis said.  “If people don’t think through the consequences at all, I suspect most church-going people will vote in favor of it,” Collis says. But what are the consequences? And for the Black community, how could it affect us? […]