In the debate over provincial restrictions to stem the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been holdouts. Restaurants who ignore bans on indoor dining, hair salons cutting instead of closing. And there have been churches keeping their pews filled instead of abiding by capacity restrictions or moving services to the web.   

In Alberta, one Edmonton-area church has become a flashpoint in the COVID culture war between the power of the government to impose restrictions and the rights of those opposed to them. 

Edmonton Journal justice reporter Jonny Wakefield walks us through the history of GraceLife Church, why the community is opposed to limits on worship, and how it could be following a template set out by the pastor at a California mega-church. 

Background reading: How an Edmonton-area church became the centre of Alberta's COVID-19 fight 

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