American churches fined $10,000 for hosting Christmas Eve services

Two churches in Albuquerque, New Mexico have received fines after they hosted prayer services on Christmas Eve, KOAT7 reports.

Both institutions face fines for exceeding the 25% capacity limit on religious venues and ignoring mask mandates, which could cost each church up to $10,000 in fines, $5,000 for each violation.

Bernalillo County, the county in which Albuquerque is located, is currently in the "red" zone under the state's coronavirus guidelines. Under such restrictions, religious institutions are allowed to host gatherings with attendance capped at 25% of structural capacity.

One of the churches, Legacy, posted a video of their congregants singing "Silent Night" to their Instagram account and the account of their Youth ministry. The videos were taken down on Sunday and Monday respectively after the church started to receive media attention.

Legacy released a statement arguing that they "have taken the pandemic seriously from the start, and have prudent measures in place. But when governments exceed their constitutional authority and contradict what we are called on by God to do, we answer first to His authority."

"It's tragic that what we do for thousands of shut-ins, those in despair, and kids who go without meals gets no state notice, but fixation on one service can net us large fines," the church further said in a second statement. "The state should fold its losing hand against Churches as Colorado has, focus on the truly vulnerable, and recognize what the US Supreme Court has recently said about Churches because we must continue to do what we are called to."

The church referenced a recent Supreme Court ruling whereby the court ruled in favour of a Colorado church seeking an injunction against coronavirus attendance restrictions implemented by the state's governor Jared Polis. Other churches in states such as California and New York have pursued similar legal challenges against their state governments.

The other church, Cavalry, posted images of their services to their own Instagram account. The church released their own statement on the matter, saying that they "chose not to break fellowship with any worshiper by requiring them to leave the gathering of their church family. Instead, we continued to urge and provide opportunity for our congregants to maintain safe social distance, wear face coverings, and properly sanitize."

The churches have five days to contest their fines.