When a Renegade Church and a Zealous County Health Department Collide

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Silent Lunch, The David Zweig Newsletter

Santa Clara County, California, imposed some of the harshest Covid restrictions in America. A church and its members defied them — and became the targets of an unprecedented surveillance operation[
David Zweig
Mar 5 2023

Calvary Chapel San Jose, in Santa Clara County, CA. Pastor Mike McClure, center.

Long famous as the core of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County, California, also earned the distinction in the last three years as perhaps the most aggressive and punitive enforcer of pandemic restrictions in the country. On March 16, 2020, Santa Clara, along with a half-dozen other Bay Area counties, was the first in the nation to announce a shelter in place order, commanding all citizens to remain at home other than for specific activities that the county deemed essential, such as food shopping or medical care. It wasn’t until mid-October — seven months after the initial order — that Sara Cody, the head of the county’s public health department, began allowing indoor gatherings at churches, provided they were no more than 100 people or 25 percent of a facility’s capacity, whichever was fewer. At these limited gatherings face coverings and social distancing were required, and singing was banned.

San Jose’s Calvary Chapel, led by its pastor, Mike McClure, brazenly defied these orders. On May 24, 2020, McClure stated publicly that he would reopen the church the following week, regardless of the health department’s orders, and that he would never close the church again. After two months of isolation, many congregants were teetering toward despair. They were suffering greatly from loneliness, depression, and crippling anxiety — the church was their community, and returning to the normalcy of its rituals and in-person fellowship was vital for their mental, spiritual, and physical well-being. 

True to McClure’s word, at the end of May Calvary began holding indoor gatherings, often with hundreds of worshipers, a large portion of whom were without masks, in breach of distancing rules, and singing. This set off a collision between the openly defiant church and the county that culminated in two lawsuits. One, in federal court, in June 2020, by the church against the county, claiming the restrictions violated a list of constitutional rights, and the other, in state court, in October 2020, by the county against the church, for “flagrantly and repeatedly” violating public health orders and nonpayment of fines. 

Both cases are still in litigation, but extensive legal documents, totaling more than a thousand pages, reveal a county, and its health department, that went to extraordinary, and potentially unlawful, lengths to enforce its decrees. These efforts include levying more than $2 million in fines against Calvary, and a multi-faceted surveillance program of the church and its members, breathtaking in scope and reminiscent of totalitarian regimes, rather than an American county health department — the spy operation included stakeouts, forced in-person monitoring of prayer groups and other intimate activities, and tracking the cellular mobility data of churchgoers.

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‘Outrageous’: California Church Ordered To Pay Over A Million Dollars In COVID Fines
Leif Le Mahieu
Apr 15, 2023

(Photo by Nhat V. Meyer/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)

A California church has been ordered to pay over $1 million in COVID fines after the church did not enforce a county’s social distancing and masking requirements. 

Superior Court Judge Evette Pennypacker ordered Calvary Chapel San Jose to pay $1.2 million in fines after it did not follow COVID restrictions put in place by Santa Clara County, requirements the church said violated their religious freedom. 

“It should appear clear to all — regardless of religious affiliation — that wearing a mask while worshiping one’s god and communing with other congregants is a simple, unobtrusive, giving way to protect others while still exercising your right to religious freedom,” Pennypacker wrote. “Unfortunately, Defendants repeatedly refused to model, much less, enforce this gesture. Instead, they repeatedly flouted their refusal to comply with the Public Health Orders and urged others to do so ‘who cares what the cost,’ including death.”

The church will appeal the ruling, according to church attorney Mariah Gondeiro. “We look forward to establishing more precedent on appeal that will have far greater implications for the future,” she said. 

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Jay Bhattacharya, a medical professor at Stanford, said that the ruling was “outrageous.” “Throughout the pandemic, California state courts have flouted the 1st amendment right to freedom of worship, & ignored evidence-based medicine. This punitive ruling is outrageous, which the church will certainly appeal. May a wiser judge be found,” he said.