SALEM — Two more Oregon churches are suing Gov. Kate Brown, alleging her coronavirus restrictions on social gathering violate their constitutional right to the freedom of religion and assembly.

The Edgewater Christian Fellowship in Grants Pass and the Church of God of Prophecy in Roseburg filed a lawsuit Tuesday, May 26, in U.S. District Court in Eugene against the governor, the Oregon Health Authority’s director, Oregon State Police superintendent and the sheriffs of both Josephine and Douglas counties.

Both churches believe they are “called to” resume in-person worship services after temporarily suspending them in compliance with the governor’s “Stay Home, Save Lives” executive orders, the suit says. They both want to restart in-person worship services on May 31, Pentecost Sunday, with social distancing, hand-washing and other sanitary protocols, their attorney, Steve Elzinga, wrote in the suit.

Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian nonprofit organization, are representing the two churches and their pastors in the suit.

“The Constitution forbids the government from prohibiting the free exercise of religion — which is exactly what the Governor’s order does while allowing larger assemblies for secular purposes (e.g. ‘fitness classes’),” the federal suit alleges. “Because the Governor’s order threatens significant jail time and penalties for anyone who meets for a church service in violation of her order, a temporary restraining order and injunction are necessary to preserve Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.”

The suit was filed as the state Supreme Court is preparing to decide whether a Baker County judge’s May 18 preliminary injunction in a similar case should stand or be dismissed. The judge found the governor’s emergency coronavirus order restrictions were “null and void.”

According to the latest suit, the Edgewater Christian Fellowship last held in-person services on March 15 and limited its service to 250 people. On March 17, the church temporarily suspended in-person worship services and began conducting services online. As of Sunday, Josephine County had no active COVID-19 cases and had recorded 25 total cases since the outbreak, the suit says.

Before COVID-19 concerns, Edgewater’s weekly attendance was approximately 900 per service for two services, according to its pastor.

Roseburg Church of God of Prophecy last held in-person services on March 15. The next day, the church temporarily suspended in-person worship services and began conducting services online. Between March 8 and Sunday, there have been 25 known COVID-19 positive cases in Douglas County.

“Roseburg Church of God sincerely believes that online services and drive-in services do not fully meet the Bible’s requirement that the Church meet together in person for corporate worship,” Elzinga wrote in the suit.

Before COVID-19, the Roseburg Church of God of Prophecy’s Sunday services could hold up to 110 people. To ensure proper social distancing, however, the church plans to limit its in-person Sunday services to only as many as can properly socially distance between family groups — about 50, according to the suit.

The suit is assigned to U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken.

The argument that the governor lacks authority to address the coronavirus emergency “lacks merit,” Solicitor General Benjamin Gutman has argued on behalf of the governor in other proceedings. He noted that the state constitution grants the governor “all the police power vested in the state.”

Last week, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane denied an emergency injunction for a coalition of nine businesses and one nonprofit that had sued the governor. McShane found the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on their federal constitutional claims. McShane also said he’d leave the plaintiffs’ allegations that the governor failed to follow relevant state law for emergency orders to the state Supreme Court to address, as it considers the similar case brought by Elkhorn Baptist Church and nine other churches from across the state.

More than 200 faith leaders in the state have pledged to honor the governor’s restrictions.

“We recognize a shared sacred duty to promote public health and well-being of all our neighbors, especially the most vulnerable members of our society. Today we agree that this must be a key metric in determining our individual reopening plans, and we ask for all people of faith to join us in affirming this guiding focus,” said a statement by Common Table, a group of more than 200 faith leaders across Oregon.

This article was originally published by the The Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving heath issue.