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   From: bkiherman@sunpower.com   
      
   An Illinois church on Sunday defied Governor J.B. Pritzker's   
   extended stay-at-home order by holding services, days after it   
   filed a federal lawsuit contesting the governor's executive   
   actions to limit the coronavirus' spread.   
      
   The Beloved Church of Lena in Stephenson County, which has a   
   roughly 80-person congregation, held services beginning in the   
   morning, according to local media outlets. Since Pritzker's stay-   
   at-home order went into effect on March 21, Pastor Stephen   
   Cassell has flouted its ban on public gatherings and continued   
   to hold meetings for worship, Bible study and prayer. The state   
   has issued the Beloved Church of Lena with "cease-and-desist"   
   orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic to stop it from putting people   
   in harm's way.   
      
   The Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based conservative law firm,   
   filed a federal lawsuit with the United States District Court   
   for the Northern District of Illinois in Rockford on behalf of   
   the church on Thursday contesting the stay-at-home order.   
      
   In the suit, Cassell and the firm alleged that Pritzer's orders   
   were discriminatory against those practicing religion and   
   "intentionally denigrated Illinois churches and pastors and   
   people of faith by relegating them to second-class citizenship."   
      
   Pritzker, the Stephenson County Sheriff, the region's Department   
   of Public Health administrator, and the Village of Lena's Chief   
   of Police were named as defendants in the suit.   
      
   The governor has ordered churches to either cancel their   
   services or conduct them online, as the state battles with   
   containing the coronavirus outbreak through the stay-at-home   
   measure and various other mitigation methods.   
      
   https://www.newsweek.com/illinois-church-defies-stay-home-order-   
   again-holds-service-days-after-filing-lawsuit-against-1501675   
        
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)