Religious practice is incredibly varied. And unless the rule is "don't be religious," religious people will try to be flexible. Christians have an obligation to gather, but many churches can satisfy that obligation with a 15 minute service, no singing, and ample distancing, if those are the rules.

Theaters, concerts, and theatrical performances have a harder time changing the product. "Wonder Woman 1984 in 15 Minutes" doesn't sell. Cutting a college lecture down to 20 minutes doubles or triples the number of lectures needed to cover the material.

But less severe restrictions apply to other things deemed "essential" or that require physical attendance. And that's the crux of the issue. The government can't declare churches "non-essential" and close them.

Clearly the government can declare them non-essential, and the highest body that arbitrates such claims has rules that California's implementation of the determination was equitable & constitutional. It is defacto legal, allowed, constitutional.

It seems what you take issue with is the definition of "essential". That's fine: but even if California is allowing businesses that are not truly essential to remain open, that doesn't change whether or not Churches are essential. A mistake by California in one are does not require that it apply the mistake elsewhere. And again: every type of gathering style similar to what would be experiences in churches has also be put on hold. Are you aware of any business that has a similar exposure profile as churches, and is not necessary for normal everyday survival (food etc.) that has been allowed to remain open? (Though even if you are, again such a mistake by California does not require it to double down on that mistake with other such gatherings.)

> The government can't declare churches "non-essential" and close them.

And indeed, under this current order, they haven't.

They've limited them to min(25% capacity, 100). What's under contention is whether this is treating churches differently than other similarly-situated secular facilities. The two sides come to a disagreement over which other facilities count as "similarly-situated".