Is Lockdown On Church Gatherings Persecution?

The reason given is to mitigate the impacts of the Covid19 peak, which is statistically provable by the hospitalization, death and infection rates and poses a real risk to human life. Hospitals in the Western Cape are over capacity.

I conclude this is not persecution.

Is Church Gathering An Absolute Requirement?
While as a general principle we should not give up gathering together (Hebrews 10), this is not an absolute to every situation. People temporarily miss church if sick or on holiday or in jail. In some cases, infected people skip church to avoid infecting others. Certain functions of the local church such as communion, baptism require physical meeting. Some other functions such as preaching and group discussions can be emulated online. The classic Western formula of approximately 150 people meeting inside one religious building with pews once a week is not prescribed in scripture, although many identity that formula with church. We can be creative and try other formats that reduce risk of spread. For example. Outdoor meetings. Multiple smaller meetings.

The duration of the epidemic has created new questions on how long limitations should reasonably be imposed. Nevertheless, the current closure is at the epidemic peak in an extreme situation.

Why Regulations Will Often Seem Unfair
Every regulation has to set thresholds. The difference between those in the one side allowed versus the other side may seem a minor difference in activity but different in legality so it can be argued unequal. Nevertheless regulations have to draw the line somewhere and those lines will thus always look unfair or unreasonable. The law is a blunt instrument. If it is to complex it becomes too hard to know or enforce, and thus the simple lines will look unreasonable.

The exact place where the lines are drawn is a matter of opinion and debate, but when there is real persecution our main energy should be directed to defend. The exact place such lines are drawn may inconvenience is but if not an absolute.

Real Persecution
A much more serious threat, the Civil Union Amendment Bill was recently signed into law with hardly any Christian protest and some even attacking me for arguing this is persecution. Home Affairs workers are required to solemnise save sex unions against their will. With that precedent, with the unification of the marriage act, it can easily be extended to coerce pastors to do the same. Them to coerce others on other issues. But most Christians say because I am not a home Affairs worker so I don’t care.