{"id":4309,"date":"2023-07-20T05:03:32","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T05:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4309"},"modified":"2023-07-20T05:58:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T05:58:27","slug":"republican-lawmakers-pitch-constitutional-amendment-to-keep-wisconsin-churches-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4309","title":{"rendered":"Republican Lawmakers Pitch Constitutional Amendment to Keep Wisconsin Churches Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/republican-lawmakers-pitch-constitutional-amendment-to-keep-wisconsin-churches-open\/tcsquare\/2023\/07\/20\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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by Benjamin Yount<\/h5>\n

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Wisconsin Republicans want to make sure churches in the state are kept open during the next emergency.<\/p>\n

State Sen Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, along with Rep. Ty Bodden, R-Hilbert, and Rep. Karen Hurd, R-Fall Creek, took a proposed constitutional amendment to a Senate committee on Tuesday. If the amendment becomes law, it would stop public health managers from closing churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is grave,\u201d Hurd (pictured above, left) said. \u201cAs an unconscionable threat to our very democracy, our representative Republic, and the freedoms of every citizen of the state of Wisconsin is before us. This threat is the disregard of our natural and constitutional right to the freedom of religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisconsin saw its churches closed during the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n

Tomczyk (pictured above, middle) doesn\u2019t want to see that happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to my American and Wisconsin right to worship how I want to, I don\u2019t give a damn what the governor says,\u201d Tomczyk added. \u201cAnd anytime we can strengthen those rights, we should.<\/p>\n

Bodden (pictured above, right) said all places of worship should be protected.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaces of worship for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or any other practicing religions should not be closed by any level of government at any time,\u201d Bodden said. \u201cDoing so interferes with religious practice, and undermines the foundation of this state and union.<\/p>\n

Nine states\u00a0\u2013 including Arizona, Florida, North Dakota, and South Carolina \u2013 currently have similar no-closing laws.<\/p>\n

Sen. Andre Jacque, R-DePere, however, questioned whether Wisconsin needs a constitutional amendment to keep churches open.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it necessary, given that we already have what are, I would say, pretty strong protections in our state and federal constitution?\u201d Jacqie asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shouldn\u2019t be necessary,\u201d Bodden answered. \u201cBut, in order to bring light to it, and hopefully right some of the wrongs this needs to be talked about. And we need to move forward with everything we can to protect these rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The amendment would have to pass through the legislature twice, then go to Wisconsin voters before taking effect.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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The post Republican Lawmakers Pitch Constitutional Amendment to Keep Wisconsin Churches Open<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/republican-lawmakers-pitch-constitutional-amendment-to-keep-wisconsin-churches-open\/tcsquare\/2023\/07\/20\/ by Benjamin Yount \u00a0 Wisconsin Republicans want to make…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4310,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4309\/revisions\/4310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}