It’s May 1, 2020 and we’ve been under house arrest stay-at-home orders here in Illinois since March 21. Gov. Pritzker has extended a modified order until May 30 to avoid a projected “second wave” of coronavirus deaths if the statewide stay-at-home order is lifted.

We’ll now be required to wear face masks in most public settings, but some businesses and state parks will be allowed to reopen, and hospitals will be permitted to offer elective surgeries again. That’s progress, although it’s strange that face masks are required now. Wouldn’t they have been better used as part of the original effort to flatten the curve? And if the curve is flattened, doesn’t that mean that significantly less people are getting the virus?

I don’t make the rules, but I do question them. Speaking of which —

I pointed out in yesterday’s Morning Links that it seems like some government mandates are exceeding their constitutional authority under these stay-at-home orders. The example I gave was from Wisconsin, where two officers were filmed confronting a mother over her daughter going to her friend’s house to play.

I had a visceral reaction to that, but not nearly as strong as the one I had to this from Paula Bolyard over on PJ Media:

It’s even worse in Knox County, Tenn., where the health department just announced that while churches may reopen on May 1, the Lord’s Supper is forbidden.

The order was announced by Knox County Health Department Regional Hospital Coordinator Charity Menefee, who announced that Communion is not part of “core worship.”

The immediate question is, “Who is Charity Menefee and who gave her permission to determine what is or isn’t part of ‘core worship’ in the church?!” It gets worse:

In addition, “The physical taking of communion/sacrament should not be performed due to the serial breaking of physical distancing across a congregation.” Churches are urged to “consider guiding parishioners in how to connect with the spiritual aspects of these practices during this phase.” Never mind that for Christians, Communion is a requirement, not an optional activity that can be transmitted over the internet.

Not only that, but church attendees are also banned from physically embracing or shaking hands with one another. And singing, while not banned, “is discouraged as it is thought to be an activity that expels significantly more virus than talking.”

Also banned by the Knox County order: “communal items (for example, tithe plates, hymnals, bibles, etc.).” Churches are told they should use a donation box in lieu of an offering plate. “Only core worship services are permitted in Phase One,” the order reads. “Activities such as groups and classes, youth services, social events, potlucks, communal snacks or food, and nursery, are not permitted in Phase One.”

The civil authorities in Knox County are clearly operating outside their jurisdiction. Local bureaucrats have no right to make such decisions.

Back in March, Douglas Wilson wrote about the nature and extension of civil government when it comes to the things of God:

In historic Presbyterian polity (all rise!), the civil magistrate had no authority in sacred things (in sacris), but he had definite authority surrounding sacred things (circa sacra). Put simply, the magistrate has no right to tell the church what to preach, how to pray, how to administer the sacraments, who to discipline, etc. That is not their assigned task. They need to stay in their lane.

But when it comes to questions of public safety (which is exactly what this is), preachers need to stay in their lane. It would be different if we were talking about a monastery with a bunch of recluse hermit monks, and the magistrate told them they couldn’t gather in their own chapel for prayers. That would be none of the magistrate’s business. But if great herds of Baptists head out to the Golden Corral after services, and they do this during the time of an epidemic, the magistrate has full authority and obligation to tell all of them “not so fast.” This is circa sacra.

There are so many areas where the church should be resisting statism, it would be shame to waste our powder on any issue where the state is acting well within its rights.

In Knox County, the state is most assuredly not “acting well within its rights.” While Charity Menefee rightly permits churches to reopen based on her authority “surrounding sacred things (circa sacra),” she violates the boundary separating church and state by assuming authority “in sacred things (in sacris).”

Miss Menefee may not have done so with malice; in fact, she may have considered her directive magnanimous. But such a violation is still a violation—and a dangerous one at that because it is done in the name of “safety.”

The concept of safety acts like a sedative on us—”you want others to be safe, don’t you?”—in which we lower our defenses as the natural impulse to care for others takes over. It’s subtle, seductive and smooth. Of course we want others to be safe.

But that’s not the right question. The question is, “whose domain?” The practice of communion is not based on whether it is considered “safe” to do so by civil authorities. Follow the progression of that thinking and in ten years communion will be declared “unsafe” because it reinforces religious dogma that increases the risk of perceived threats to some minority group.

No, communion is first and foremost based on the authority of Jesus Himself.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. — 1 Cor. 11:23-26

More importantly for this discussion, the freedom to practice communion without government interference is grounded in the First Amendment, which protects religious belief and expression. With emphasis added, it reads:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” — The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

In 1940, the Supreme Court ruled that the Free Exercise Clause is enforceable against state and local governments. Miss Menefee, then, is abusing her authority and violating her citizens’ constitutional and God-ordained rights.

When it comes to the act of taking communion, the authority of the Constitution supersedes the authority of the Knox County Health Department Regional Hospital Coordinator. And the authority of Jesus Christ supersedes the authority of the Constitution, which protects our God-given right to worship as we see fit.

It would be unwise to allow this interference by the state to go unanswered, because it will set precedent. The churches of Knox County must unite and issue a kind but firm rebuke to the local “magistrate,” making it clear that the encroachment on their civil and religious liberties will not go unchallenged.

My guess is that their example will be needed in the not-too-distant future.