Restrictions are made for good of the country

Churches, synagogues, mosques and all other places of worship are closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. These places were closed to prevent social gatherings that would help spread the disease, but some people believe that these places should reopen because closing them violates the free exercise of religion. Some people also believe that the government should remove the restrictions that require them to stay at home because they think that they violate their individual freedoms of speech and assembly. But these freedoms are not absolute and the government reserves the right to restrict these freedoms if it has a compelling state interest.

The coronavirus outbreak has warranted stay-at-home orders, bans on mass gatherings and social distancing guidelines. All of these things are for the good of the country. The governments have a compelling state interest to limit individual freedoms of speech, religion and assembly with these stay-at-home orders because they limit the spread of the coronavirus and are meant to keep the population safe or at least at a far lower risk.

The First Amendment of the Constitution does grant the freedoms of speech, religion and assembly, but these freedoms are not absolute, which means that the government can restrict them if they have good reason to do so. What's going on in the world right now is definitely a good reason to limit these freedoms. People need to realize that the government is just trying to protect them from the virus and these people need to stop disobeying government orders just because they feel that they should be able to go to church on Sundays. People can exercise their religion at home or in Zoom meetings and when the time eventually comes, they will be able to go back to their places of worship. But right now, we need to follow the rules.

Nathan Clapp

Mundelein