New Delhi: Tony Spell, a Louisiana pastor who was arrested on 31 March for defying stay-at-home orders has done it again. He continued with church service attended by hundreds of people who arrived in 26 buses.
In a bid to arrest the spread of coronavirus, many parts of the United States have issued a stay-at-home order, one of which is the state of Louisiana. Governor John Bel Edwards issued the order on 22 March and it is to continue until 12 April, subject to extension. “People can leave their homes to do essential things like buying groceries or food, pick up medicine or go to work only if their job is essential,” Edwards said.
In an interview with CNN’s Victor Blackwell yesterday, the pastor said, “We believe in science, but we do have a command from God. And there is no governing body that can tell us we cannot gather and worship freely.”
‘There is a physician in Jesus Christ, he is a healer’
On the dangers of being “locked up” for 22 days now, he said people are dealing with “Suicide, domestic violence, starvation and (for them) hope is the last stronghold in their lives.”
Going back the the pastor’s statement on believing in science, which states that social distancing is key to flattening the curve, Blackwell asked, “How is this a pro-life stance?”
The pastor responded that “People’s hope is in the house of God. If they do contract the virus, if they have fears because of the virus, the church is more essential now than ever. There is a physician in Jesus Christ, he is a healer.”
Alleging a false narrative around the violence, he also said, “We were supposed to be a million and a half body bags, we’re at 8,400.”
The pastor said that people “would rather come to church and worship like free people than live like prisoners in their homes”. Drawing comparisons with those who have suffered from the virus and even died, he added that the depression and anxiety of living under lockdown is worse.
Spell is not the only one. Florida megachurch pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was also arrested on similar grounds after he hosted a Sunday church service. He was “charged with misdemeanour counts of unlawful assembly and violating public health rules.”
Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio have exempted religious gatherings from their stay-at-home orders. Meanwhile, California has deemed “faith-based services that are provided through streaming or other technology” as essential services. Legal experts suggest that “rules shutting down worship are legally sound if they apply across-the-board to all types of group meetings.”
Exemptions on religious gatherings amid a pandemic are worrying. Similar instances in South Korea, where more than 5,900 religious facilities violated guidelines issued to stem the Covid-19 pandemic, are proof of the danger it poses. Closer home, the Tablighi Jamaat gathering at the Nizamuddin markaz in Delhi has reportedly doubled coronavirus cases in India.
As of Sunday, Louisiana has 13,000 confirmed cases and 477 deaths. Meanwhile, the United States has 336,830 cases and 9,618 deaths as of the morning of 6 April.
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