Churches in Kentucky, Virginia, and Illinois have lost their demands for exceptions to assembly bans. There are doubtless churches in other places that are challenging the bans but haven’t had their day in court yet.
Malls, restaurants, casinos, sports venues, schools and colleges — the tens of dozens of places where people gather — are sucking-it-up and waiting for this hell to end. Why do churches think they ought to be excepted? A couple possibilities come immediately to mind.
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Financial need. The shutdown has been especially hard on churches, because the overwhelming majority of them are barely making it and a sharp, 6-weeks long decline in revenue can be ruinous.
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Ignorance. Many churchgoers simply lack the intellectual subtlety to understand that belief is protected but not privileged, that the same laws which apply to everybody else includes them, too.
Fortunately the courts have — so far — had the good sense to reject the demands.