Governor’s Unconstitutional Ban on Religious Gatherings Ends Saturday at Noon
EAST DERRY, N.H.—In an event organized by ReOpenNH, the People will reopen New Hampshire for public religious worship at noon on Saturday at the State House, rejecting and ending the governor’s unconstitutional attempt to limit religious gatherings to nine or fewer people.
“As Christians, we are called to assemble together for worship, particularly in times of distress, and God is quite clear in His commandment that we throw off our fear and put our trust in Him,” said Andrew Manuse, chairman of ReopenNH. “The Constitutions of New Hampshire and the United States both protect our God-given right to public religious expression, assembly, and worship, and no governor has the authority in any situation—ever—to overrule the commandments of God for His People.”
The governor is expected to extend his executive order declaring a State of Emergency for the third time on Friday for another 21 days, which he thinks gives him authority to institute the many emergency orders he has issued to date. This includes emergency orders 16, 17 and 40, which together assert that “spiritual” or “faith based” scheduled gatherings of 10 or more people are “prohibited.” Emergency order 40 replaced emergency order 17, but did not change restrictions on religious worship, contrary to public statements of the governor to the contrary.
“Some people are going along with the governor’s orders because they believe the Bible teaches obedience to government officials, but it is essential to point out that there are no examples of Jews or Christians in the Bible accepting the command of governors to disobey God’s commandments to worship Him, pray and assemble together,” Manuse said. “In fact, Moses, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Jesus, Peter and Paul, among so many others, directly disobeyed orders from governors to stop worshiping and praising God and teaching God’s Holy Word, and most of them paid for this with their lives. It is essential for Christians and other people of faith to continue in the example of these people of faith, especially the Messiah Jesus Himself.”
The N.H. Constitution provides emergency powers to the Legislature or its delegate by statute to suspend laws, but under no logical understanding of this passage does the article grant power to any branch of government to suspend the Constitution. When the whole Constitution is considered, rights of religious freedom and conscience have no equivalent protection that government can provide, and thus these rights are inviolable.
For Saturday’s event, all are welcome. A non-denominational Christian service will begin at noon with fellowship among believers, which will be followed by prayers, worship with modern Christian music, a sermon from one or more Christian pastors on our current predicament, an outgoing prayer, and prayer circles to make sure we are ministering to each other. This service, which is an appeal to God to intervene on our behalf as a free people as we work to peacefully restore our freedoms and eliminate fear, should not last more than an hour. Additional religious leaders from other faiths will have an opportunity to speak and worship after the Christian service is over.
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About ReOpenNH
ReOpenNH is a group of concerned individuals devoted to getting New Hampshire back to work through a restoration of balance and reason, a petition drive at ReOpenNH.com, and coordinated demonstrations against arbitrary government.
Going forward can we meet in our cars at Steeplegate (they’ve already said it’s okay spoke to Mike in security) and have someone hold a nondenominational service ???
We want to worship at the Apostolic Lutheran Church,New Ipswich,NH.We have a large church and can easily do social distancing.The constitution gives us the right to worship and peacefully gather!