During the pandemic, arbitrary regulations and lockdowns that have forced small businesses to close and kids to remain out of school have had serious consequences. Pandemic-induced depression and suicide is a serious problem that seems to have been overlooked by many of the leaders imposing lockdowns.
Meanwhile, religious worship was deemed nonessential by some Democrat leaders during the pandemic. And houses of worship were forced to remain closed, allegedly out of health concerns. According to some Democrats, you could social distance in a Walmart, a restaurant, or even an airplane, but not a church or a synagogue—so they ordered them closed.
But a recently released Gallup Poll suggests that churches and synagogues should never have been deemed nonessential, and may have been the most essential thing Americans needed to get through the pandemic.
Gallup has been polling Americans annually, as part of its November Health and Healthcare survey, to assess whether their mental health is excellent, good, fair, or poor. While Americans’ mental health overall declined in 2020, frequent churchgoers did not experience a mental health decline at all and were the only group in the U.S. not to. In fact, they saw a slight increase, with 46 percent rating their mental health as excellent in 2020, a 4-point increase over 2019.
via @GallupNews https://t.co/FoDP7fKKtm pic.twitter.com/PEqTFPcK3Z
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) December 14, 2020
Trump legal advisor Jenna Ellis, who is also an attorney for the Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., which is suing Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for their unconstitutional COVID-19 restrictions, has argued that restricting religious worship has nothing to do with protecting Americans. “Church is essential, and the government has no power to arbitrate whether religious organizations are essential. This is not about health and safety, it is about targeting churches.”
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Matt Margolis is the author of Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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