All churches should be open

About 800 miles south of my office, the leaders of North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, Calif., are no doubt having conversations about how to move forward. The church, which was mandated to close and remain closed earlier this year due to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Santa Clara county’s decrees, chose not to comply.

After moving ahead with what they believed was the mission of the church, they are now faced with more than $52,000 in fines from various governments and agencies.

Here in Washington, churches are facing similar mandates that restrict the size of gatherings or disallow...