Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 29, 2020 / 05:00 am
The state of Illinois relaxed its restrictions on churches on Thursday, after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh ordered the state to respond to three lawsuits brought by churches.
At a press conference May 28, Gov. JB Pritzker said that the state's public health department would be issuing "guidance, not mandatory restrictions" for faith leaders to hold religious services, loosening the state's restrictions on religious gatherings during the pandemic.
The Thomas More Society, which had filed several lawsuits on behalf of several Illinois churches against the state's public health restrictions, said the announcement was a victory for religious freedom.
"By issuing guidelines only and not the previously announced mandatory restrictions, he [Pritzker] has handed a complete victory to the churches in Illinois," said vice president and senior counsel Peter Breen.