Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
Awaken Church, a church in Kearny Mesa, is being attacked and targeted for daring to exercise their First Amendment rights in the midst of COVID-19 hysteria.
The church has held multiple “noncompliant” services where members have been singing and not wearing masks. As if the entire spread of the coronavirus was due to people singing too much and not factors that a church has nothing to do with.
News outlets have covered the church and contacted the county, most likely in an attempt to get them shut down. They seem to have gotten what they wished for since the county has given the church a cease and desist order for indoor services and requiring safety precautions outdoors.
In response to the criticisms, Awaken Church Pastor Jurgen Matthesius stated that he would be following health guidelines, but added that “there’s an expiration date on how long a church can function online and still meet all the aspects of the health, the physical and emotional and spiritual needs of our people.”
He also correctly pointed out that the lockdown is affecting far more people than the pandemic. “While every death is a tragedy, the impact of these shutdowns extends far beyond the disease itself.”
This recent Stasi-esque culture brought on by the coronavirus has affected more people than the virus itself. Most businesses are closed and the ones that are open operate in fear that someone will rat them out to the county and then they will lose their livelihood. All thanks to a “concerned citizen” doing the bidding of authoritarian shut downs.
What citizens have done to each other in this pandemic by essentially robbing them through government action is nothing short of disgusting. This church is simply attempting to hold normal services but media and members of the public who do not attend the church are attempting to shut it down all the same.
