A town in Idaho is paying $300,000 to Christian churchgoers who sued the city after being arrested for having maskless church services outside during the pandemic.
Gabriel Rench, Sean Bohnet and Rachel Bohnet brought a case against Moscow City leaders in Idaho in March 2021, alleging their First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated when they were arrested at an outdoor “psalm sing” conducted by leaders from their church during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The “psalm-singing protest” lasted 20 minutes in front of Moscow City where city officials placed yellow dots six feet apart for social distancing purposes. These arrests were condemned by former President Donald Trump, shortly after.
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Christ Church has a congregation of roughly 1,000 people belonging to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. Footage of the arrests went viral on social media, showing officers taking Rench’s hymn book before cuffing and sending the man to prison. Rench was charged with violating the city’s “repeatedly extended health ordinance, which carved out exemptions for activities protected under the U.S. Constitution and the Idaho State Constitution, including religious activity.”
A magistrate judge later dismissed the city’s case against them with United States District Court Judge Morrison C. England Jr. denying the city’s motion that the “plaintiffs should never have been arrested in the first place, and the constitutionality of what the city thought [its] code said is irrelevant.”
“Somehow, every single City official involved overlooked the exclusionary language [of constitutionally protected behavior] in the Ordinance,” the Judge wrote further.
When speaking to Fox News Digital, Rench said “I think it’s no secret that portions of our government and political groups are now starting to target Christians in a way that has never really happened in America or Canada.”
“I’m in a conservative state, but I live in a liberal town, and the liberals had no problem arresting me for practicing my religious rights and my Constitutional rights,” he continued. “But my [Republican] governor also didn’t defend me either. If you look at what’s going on in Canada, I think America’s 10 years, at most 20 years, behind Canada if we don’t make significant changes.”
According to a press release provided by Fox News Digital, “Idaho Counties Risk Management Program (ICRMP), determined that a financial settlement in the case was the best course of action to dispose of the suit and avoid a protracted litigation proceeding.”
“Under the terms of the settlement agreement, ICRMP will pay a total settlement amount of $300,000 and all claims against the City and the named City employees will be dismissed with prejudice along with a release of all liability,” the release said, adding that the settlement “provides closure of a matter related to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and the City’s efforts to protect the public during an exceptionally trying time.”
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