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Like I said, I doubt you'd even notice. I don't stay out of briargate just because FOTF is there. It's ridiculous to abandon a city because some ministry you don't agree with happens to be there. And if he thinks we can raise the dead, then well, ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!! Yay!
Agree fully. As for the hate mongering ideology, the hateful views are not much different from those of the bulk of today's universities, demanding tolerance for everything their extreme left-wing agenda favors and the exclusion of the slightest hint of disagreement.
"The three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday night against an emergency request for an injunction sought by Andrew Wommack Ministries Inc. to exceed attendance limits under state coronavirus public health orders.
Wommack sought an injunction that would allow it to hold a minsters' conference that was to begin at 7 p.m. Monday at Charis Bible Campus in Woodland Park. The injunction was part of a lawsuit challenging public health orders issued by Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that limits the capacity of indoor events to 175 people or less.
The organization, represented by Florida-based Liberty Counsel, claimed the state's capacity limit discriminated against religious groups and violated their First Amendment rights.
Wommack filed a lawsuit against the state last week and sought the injunction to block enforcement of the capacity limit. Denver District Court Judge Christine Arguello denied the motion, stating that to not enforce the crowd limit would "present a high risk of harm to the state of Colorado as well as the public in general."
The appeals court judges, in their ruling Monday, wrote that it was unlikely Wommack would succeed on appeal or that they would suffer "irreparable harm" if the injunction was not granted.
Liberty Counsel issued a statement Monday that said the governor’s executive orders give "preferential treatment to nonreligious gatherings over religious gatherings..." and cited the opening of Cripple Creek casinos, also in Teller County.
Wommack had violated the state's capacity limit earlier this year with devastating results. In July, according to the state's filing with the 10th Circuit Sunday, it held its Summer Family Bible Conference indoors with an estimated 800 individuals in attendance. "That event resulted in a COVID-19 outbreak that included 46 AWMI staff members and 17 attendees with confirmed or probable cases, including the ultimate death of one attendee."
The outbreak accounted for 24% of Teller County's case count, the state's motion said. The event went on despite a cease-and-desist order issued by Attorney General Phil Weiser's office, although that order was not issued until the day before the four-day conference ended.
Before the ruling was reported, the ministry said it planned to hold its event Monday in Woodland Park.
"Andrew Wommack Ministries 2020 Ministers Conference is still scheduled for October 5 - October 9," the organization said in a statement to The Gazette. "We intend to exercise our first amendment rights and hold the conference. We have put extensive safety protocols in place including social distancing, masks for all staff and volunteers, temperature checks, COVID screening questions, one-way traffic flow, zoning of the building, and numerous sanitation stations.
The statement did not address the size of the crowd at the facility that has a 3,100-seat sanctuary with a total of 5,000 seats in various rooms at the Charis Bible College campus.
Liberty Counsel said in a statement after the ruling that Wommack "is evaluating its response considering the Minister’s Conference, including simulcasting the conference to attendees in multiple locations. While the emergency relief was not granted, AWMI’s appeal remains pending and will later be decided by a panel of three judges.""
"Health officials are tracking "other [COVID-19] outbreaks" related to events held by Andrew Wommack Ministries, according to a Monday news release from Teller County Public Health and Environment.
Wommack Ministries, an evangelical Christian organization that hosts retreats, theater performances and seminars, and runs Charis Bible College in Teller County held a ministers conference at the college Oct. 5-9 that brought at least 1,000 attendees throughout the week, the county's health department said.
Between 500 and 600 people attended each session of the conference, ministry spokeswoman Eileen Quinn previously told The Gazette. The conference was reportedly live-streamed to participants who were seated in separate zones throughout the large main building, which has a capacity of more than 5,000 people, she said.
Colorado’s cap for indoor gatherings at the time of the conference was 175 people, which included at places of worship.
On Monday, the health department said officials are "currently tracking other outbreaks of [COVID-19] associated with events held at the conference center at Andrew Wommack Ministries, Inc. in Teller County."
Wommack Ministries received a cease-and-desist letter from Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on July 2 while its Summer Family Bible Conference was in session, which was held at Charis from June 29 to July 3.
That event drew 1,710 attendees and had 564 staff working at it, according to the lawsuit local and state officials filed Oct. 8. In the subsequent weeks, 16 attendees and 24 staff were confirmed to have COVID-19, and another 23 people were "probable" cases. Two of the infected people were hospitalized and one died. Andrew Wommack Ministries did not comply with contact tracing procedures, the health department said.
Despite the cease-and-desist letter, the Bible conference continued through July 3.
In July, Teller County reported 48 additional cases for a total of 89 since the pandemic reached the community. The county reported 220 cases Monday.
Wommack Ministries previously challenged the state's authority over religious groups filed by Liberty Counsel.
In a two-week legal tussle that began Sept. 28, Liberty Counsel, which represents Wommack Ministries, had claims of First Amendment violations and discrimination rejected in both federal District Court and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Then a three-judge panel on the appellate court rejected Liberty Counsel's appeal on Oct. 5, the first day of the ministers conference.
Teller County and Colorado state health departments filed a new complaint in county court to order Andrew Wommack Ministries to comply with public health orders.
A federal judge exempted two Colorado churches from the state's mandate on wearing masks indoors and the cap on the number of people at indoor gatherings.
In August, Denver Bible Church in Wheat Ridge and Community Baptist Church in Brighton filed a complaint challenging state health orders as being void because of their vagueness and infringements upon religious freedom.
In an order issued on Oct. 15, U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Domenico said he didn't believe the plaintiffs would succeed at trial in proving the majority of their claims against the government, but did grant a temporary restraining order preventing the state from enforcing the face covering mandate and capacity limits against the two churches."
"Andrew Wommack Ministries has received a third court order to comply with state public health restrictions meant to control the spread of COVID-19.
Workers and guests on the Woodland Park campus of Charis Bible College must wear face masks, practice social distancing and heed capacity limitations, 4th Judicial District Judge David Prince ruled late Tuesday.
Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based legal group representing Andrew Wommack, is appealing the decision, said Mat Staver, founder and chairman.
The ministry continues to assert that the restrictions on religious gatherings violate constitutional rights of freedom of religion, freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, officials said.
The decision in the lawsuit, which state and county public health officials filed last month against the evangelical Christian ministry that runs a Bible college with 650 students, was delivered two days before a women’s worship meeting is scheduled to begin.
The event will be held as planned, starting Thursday and extending through Saturday, Staver said.
Face coverings will be mandatory for participants — and not just encouraged as has been the practice, he said. Staff members have been and will continue to be required to wear face masks, he added.
The organization will be "making every effort to comply with state-imposed attendance, mask and social distancing restrictions," officials said in a news release sent Wednesday afternoon.
A mitigation plan also will be in place to keep people safe, including stopping vehicles before they enter the property to ask occupants health questions and check their temperatures, providing a single-direction pedestrian traffic flow on the campus and using hospital-grade disinfectants.
It is unclear how many participants will attend this week's event. While the lawsuit was going on, Colorado’s indoor limit of 175 people per room was amended to exclude workers from the requirement. The organization has 600 employees.
In announcing the appeal on Wednesday, Staver said the judge's order contained inaccurate statements and overlooked First Amendment religious rights.
“Courts are required to address the weighty legal and constitutional precedents before issuing a preliminary injunction,” Staver said in a statement.
He said that the court order does not acknowledge an October federal court injunction on behalf of two Colorado churches, which found that applying the public health order’s 175-person cap and face-covering restrictions on houses of worship violates the First Amendment. That case is pending before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prince's order grants the request from Teller County Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to require Andrew Wommack Ministries to follow all pandemic restrictions. The order prohibits Andrew Wommack from holding or hosting a conference or event that does not comply.
The order also bans the organization from barring or limiting access to public health officials who seek to determine if the ministry is complying with public health orders.
Attorneys for Wommack have argued that the organization has followed public health orders and cooperated with public health officials.
A federal judge and a Tenth Circuit appellate court arrived at similar rulings before Andrew Wommack held a ministers' conference in early October on its campus. Staver said those orders did not issue actionable mandates, and a temporary restraining order was delivered after the conference ended Oct. 9.
Andrew Wommack Ministries announced Wednesday that its live Christmas musical, “The Heart of Christmas,” which was to have been presented Dec. 11-13, has been canceled and instead will be nationally broadcast as a film.
The five-year-old annual stage performance will air the week of Dec. 21 on televangelist Andrew Wommack’s television program, “The Gospel Truth.”
Teller County Administrator Sheryl Decker called Prince's ruling “a thorough and well-reasoned opinion that upholds the state’s reasonable, non-discriminatory public health orders to help protect our community from the spread of COVID-19.”
Teller County tracking more COVID-19 outbreaks related to events held by Andrew Wommack Ministries
Liberty Counsel attorneys argued that the state and local public health orders violate the Constitution’s free exercise of religion clause and are discriminatory because they unfairly place restrictions on houses of worship that are not required of other establishments.
The ministry has held several large conferences and other events at its conference center, which has a capacity of more than 5,000, since June, to which public health officials have linked several COVID-19 outbreaks and one death.
An affidavit from the man’s widow that Liberty Counsel presented in defending the ministry said the couple had stayed at a campground, dined at restaurants and attended a church twice while attending the conference, so he could have contracted the virus elsewhere. The affidavit also said he had a pre-existing heart condition."
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