As a result, churches were deemed non-essential, and in-house church meetings were suspended indefinitely, with no end date in sight.  How many churches went along with this nonsense banning the free exercise of our religious beliefs which are “essential”.  The church was created “essential” by Jesus himself because he lived and died for it, and God designed us to be in fellowship with other believers.  The US Constitution guarantees the “free exercise of religion” in the first amendment, which also makes it essential.  When churches started to reopen many adopted guidelines (Example) from the CDC or the state public health departments; however, many of the churches would not reopen until the government gave them permission.  I can understand that in the beginning church leadership was concerned about the welfare of their flock, but then it went too far.  Churches waited way too long to reopen, and in my opinion should have never closed.  The coronavirus was used to force many tyrannies on the people, and many churches with leadership had either no backbone or they succumbed to fear and were complicit.  To its shame the church was silent.  Many in government, and the media would celebrate if the church became submissive and totally compliant to the edicts of the state.  The government knows that the church has the power to influence, change hearts and minds.  This will never happen if the church remains silent.   Therefore, it is incumbent on the church to start addressing moral, cultural, and political issues, as well as current events.  The early Christian church (synagogue), Rabbi’s not only read and discussed the scriptures, but the synagogue was also the community center and all manner of issues were discussed and debated.  In these last days, the church must do this as well, and not be complicit and die in silence.  Check out the embedded video below.