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Press Release | Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Singing in Church
Press Release
TYLER & BURSCH, LLP | ADVOCATES FOR FAITH & FREEDOM
JULY 15, 2020 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: DESARÉ FERRARO 951-600-2733 OR EMAIL DFERRARO@TYLERBURSCH.COM
Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Singing in Church
Riverside County, California, July 15, 2020 –
Tyler & Bursch, LLP has teamed up with American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), The National Center for Law and Policy (NCLP) and Advocates for Faith & Freedom to file a lawsuit challenging the state of California’s ban on singing and chanting activities in places of worship on behalf of Calvary Chapel of Ukiah, Calvary Chapel Fort Bragg and River of Life Church, in Oroville, California.
On July 1, 2020, California updated their health order to include a Worship Guidance that now states, “Places of worship must therefore discontinue singing and chanting activities.” On or about July 11, 2020, a spokeswoman for California’s Office of Emergency Services confirmed that the worship ban “must be followed.” This ban violates our plaintiff’s constitutional rights under the First Amendment and Equal Protection clauses of the U. S. Constitution. (Click HERE to read full complaint.)
Robert Tyler, Partner at Tyler & Bursch, LLP immediately condemned the governor’s July 1 ban on singing and chanting in places of worship, publicly stating, “Let me be clear, the State does not have the jurisdiction to ban houses of worship from singing praises to God.”
Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of ACLJ agreed and further stated, “Banning singing in California churches is an unconstitutional abuse of power. And to do it in the name of a pandemic is despicable. This ban is clearly targeted at religion. It is clearly a violation of the First Amendment and a direct violation of religious liberty.”
On July 13, 2020, Newsom issued yet another order governing indoor operations. Under this most recent order, worship services, together with protests, fitness centers, malls, offices for non-essential actors and personal care services are permitted to remain open in the counties in which Plaintiffs are located and singing and chanting is only banned in worship services. Such activities are still permissible for all other indoor activities, including protests.
Named as defendants, all in their official capacities only, are California Governor Gavin Newsom, California Public Health Officer Sonia Angell, M.D., Mendocino County Public Health Officer Noemi Dooham, M.D., and Butte County Public Health Officer Ngoc-Phuong Luu, M.D.
Failure to comply with the Worship Ban “constitutes an imminent threat to public health and menace to public health, constitutes a public nuisance, and is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both.”
The lawsuit requests a restraining order and injunctive relief based on the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Our clients would like to see a quick resolution, with the governor and health officers changing or modifying this wording.
Since the initiation of the lockdown, restrictive mandates in the state’s health orders have been applied to houses of worship unfairly and much more aggressively than other businesses arbitrarily deemed essential, including restaurants and other gatherings. In fact, once they are allowed to reopen, this current state order does not ban singing or chanting in dine-in restaurants/bars/wineries, casinos, family entertainment centers, day camps, hotels, shopping malls, childcare centers, schools, or music, tv and film production.
In Mendocino and Butte counties, indoor worship services, together with protests, fitness centers, malls, offices for non-essential actors and personal care services, as well as day camps, hotels, childcare centers, schools, or music, tv and film production are permitted to remain open. Yet, singing and chanting is only banned in places of worship.
About Tyler & Bursch, LLP and Advocates for Faith & Freedom: With offices in Riverside County and Orange County, CA, the lawyers at Tyler & Bursch, LLP have been serving businesses and individuals throughout Southern California for over 20 years. In addition to their defense of Constitutional and Religious Liberties, their areas of practice include Corporate and Business, Labor and Employment, Real Estate and Land Use, Estate Planning, Asset Protection and Civil Litigation. www.tylerbursch.com Tyler & Bursch provides legal and financial support to the non-profit law firm, Advocates for Faith & Freedom. www.faith-freedom.com
About ACLJ: The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on the preservation and defense of religious liberties, is based in Washington, D.C. and is online here. (https://aclj.org/) Their Don’t Ban Singing in Church online petition at https://aclj.org/religious-liberty/dont-ban-singing-in-church has already received over 230,000 signatures.
About Tyler & Bursch, LLP: With offices in Murrieta and Anaheim, the lawyers and advisors at Tyler & Bursch, LLP have been serving businesses and individuals throughout Southern California for over 20 years. In addition to their defense of Constitutional and Religious Liberties, their areas of practice include Corporate and Business, Labor and Employment, Real Estate and Land Use, Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Family Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Civil Litigation. www.tylerbursch.com Tyler & Bursch provides legal and financial support to their non-profit, pro bono law firm, Advocates for Faith & Freedom in defense of constitutional and religious liberty. www.faith-freedom.com
Email info@faith-freedom.com to receive future press releases.
Case Dismissed, Bias and Censorship Allowed!
In the ongoing battle to allow conservative opinions and Christian voices to be heard, unfair bias and censorship on social media could be one of the most important legal issues in 2020.
On January 13, Advocates for Faith & Freedom’s attorney, Robert Tyler argued a religious freedom and discrimination case in New York federal court on behalf of our clients Jim Domen and Church United.
You might remember last year when Advocates took on the case against Vimeo, a video sharing platform, to fight against the increasing problem of social media sites discriminating against Christian views. In Church United’s case, several of their videos were removed by Vimeo because they contained the testimonies of “former” homosexuals who have left their former suicidal, drug and alcohol addictive, sexually abusive and harmful lifestyles for health, celibacy, traditional marriage, families and a life with Jesus Christ! Vimeo considers sharing their stories of love and redemption, hateful.
Disappointingly, after extensive oral arguments, the judge granted Vimeo’s Motion to Dismiss, shutting down our case.
The court ruled that the Communications Decency Act, enacted by Congress in 1996, effectively
allows a social media platform to discriminate for unconscionable reasons. Based on the court’s ruling, a Christian would not be able to sue a social media platform even if there was clear evidence that the reason for canceling that individual’s account profile was because of their faith.
Advocates attorneys do not intend to sit still while our fellow Christians are silenced and God’s message of hope, freedom and love is suppressed. We are grateful for your prayers of support as we consider our next steps.
We are your voice in the courts! If you would like to support our important legal ministry, please Click Here to Donate.
Vimeo Calls Church United’s Opinion, “Hate”!
Vimeo, an online company that hosts, shares and streams videos, has permanently terminated Church United’s account!
Church United, was founded by Southern California Pastor, Jim Domen to awaken the church. The non-profit ministry’s main goal is to unite California’s churches to help pastors respond together to the spiritual problems threatening our communities and transform our government.
Just before Christmas, Church United was given just 24 hours to download all 89 of their videos – 2 years’ worth – from their online account! The reason they gave was that 5 of the videos spoke of sexual orientation change efforts.
Under Vimeo’s community guidelines, videos that support such efforts are in violation of the “Community Agreement” and subject to termination. Vimeo’s statement read, “Your account has been removed by the Vimeo Staff for violating our Guidelines. Reason: Vimeo does not allow videos that harass, incite hatred, or include discriminatory or defamatory speech.”
The fact is, none of Church United’s videos do any of that. What they do, is share a different opinion – a loving, biblical opinion. Apparently, an opinion that Vimeo wants to stifle.
You may remember, in 2018, Assembly Bill 2493 was up for a vote in California’s state legislature. The bill would prohibit adults who experience unwanted same sex attraction from seeking professional therapy, calling it “fraud”.
This is a clear violation of their constitutional rights! So, after tremendous citizen outrage led by church 
leaders, the Christian community, and former homosexuals who have been comforted, helped and even set free from their same sex attraction through the same therapy the law sought to ban, the bill was withdrawn.
(Photo: Pastor Domen (on left) and “changed” former homosexuals.)
At this time, Advocates for Faith & Freedom, who would have represented Church United in a lawsuit had 2493 become law, is drafting a letter to Vimeo, asking them to reinstate Church United’s account. If they don’t, we will file a lawsuit based on free speech and religious/sexual orientation discrimination.
Please pray with us as we fight to bring Church United’s videos back so the world can see the amazing power of God’s love working in the LGBT community. And, if you are able, please consider donating any amount to our important ministry of helping organizations like Church United fight these legal battles so they can continue their work in our churches and our culture.