As Trump demands churches reopen ‘right now,’ Newsom says new guidelines are coming
With President Donald Trump’s demand Friday that churches be allowed to reopen “right now” despite fears over coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he expects to issue new guidelines by Monday on reopening, and religious leaders staked out different positions on how soon they will resume in-person services.
Some church officials say they remain committed to staying closed until they are convinced it is safe to resume and the state has given its blessing, while other officials said they expect the president’s announcement to lead to more reopenings.
“I’m very encouraged,” said Dean Broyles of the National Center for Law & Policy, which is spearheading a lawsuit against Newsom on behalf of Cross Cultural Christian Church in Lodi that wants to resume in-person services. “I know some that never closed and are flying under the radar.
“It’s been our perspective that just like press rights are protected by the First Amendment, that they haven’t been suspended by a pandemic, and so therefore the free exercise of religion mustn’t be suspended by a pandemic, either.”
But others said they will not rush toward reopening, regardless of what the president said.
“I feel that Trump’s announcement this morning, if we follow that just as he shared it, we get used as political pawns,” said Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, who presides over 370 United Methodist congregations in Northern California and Nevada. “I’m grateful that Gov. Newsom in this state and the governor of Nevada have taken the initiative...
“We want to stay on the road of a responsible response to a pandemic that’s severe and having a tremendous impact.”
Newsom already is facing pressure from a number of lawsuits by churches who say they plan to resume church services on May 31 regardless of whether they have the state’s permission, and the U.S. Department of Justice put the governor on notice in a letter Tuesday that churches have the same right as restaurants and other businesses that are being allowed to reopen.
The governor also has faced a series of protests, including one filed in Sacramento federal court late Thursday by the Mountain Christian Fellowship church in Murphys.
The lawsuit argues that Calaveras County is allowing schools to reopen, but not churches, and that “there is no rational basis, much less a compelling state interest, to differentiate between persons meeting at a schoolhouse and persons meeting at a church.”
Pastor Bart Rush said in an interview Friday that he has kept his church closed and will not violate the existing order by opening at the end of the month.
“We don’t currently have plans to open on the 31st,” he said. “We prefer to open legally.
“But if we can get everything in place to follow the guidelines we may open earlier than a decision is rendered. We know other churches are opening.”
Newsom has been pilloried at allows restaurants and malls to reopen at the Capitol over his order that churches not reopen until the state is in Phase 3 of his planned schedule for resuming various activities in the face of COVID-19. The state currently is in Phase 2, which Advocates for Faith and Freedom, but not churches.
Newsom’s office has been meeting with faith leaders in the past week, and those discussions may shape what steps he takes in his next announcement on services, but he gave no clues Friday at a new briefing.
“We look forward to churches reopening in a safe and responsible manner,” Newsom said. “We take the issue very, very seriously and to heart, and we have been very aggressive in trying to put together guidelines that will do justice to people’s health and their fundamental need and desire to practice their faith.”
But legal advocates for churches say they think the threat of up to 3,000 churches reopening May 31 has had an impact on the governor’s position, and that those that do reopen will do so safely.
“Some of them may very well come along and reopen this Sunday,” said attorney Robert Tyler of Advocates for Faith and Freedom, which also represents the Cross Culture Christian Church in Lodi and spearheaded the petition drive among pastors to tell Newsom they plan to reopen in a week. “I have heard of some that plan to do that.
“However, there are a lot of churches that have been in the preparation process to ensure they provide the protection and guidelines to help their congregations attend safely.”
Whenever churches do reopen, the services will have a vastly different look than before coronavirus locked down the nation.
Tyler said churches that reopen in the coming weeks will do so at 25 to 30 percent of normal capacity to allow for physical distancing.
And United Methodist’s Carcaño said that whenever her churches reopen members of the congregation will be asked to wear masks, and will be given them at the door if they don’t have one. She also said choirs will not be in churches, at least for a time, because of concerns they can spread the virus, and the typical coffee and doughnut tables and basement pot lucks will not be seen any time soon.
“They won’t be meeting in the same way,” she said. “They won’t be having small group meetings like they have in the past.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 2:52 PM.