A plea to members of Placer County churches during COVID surge: Stay home for Christmas

It would be easy to shame Destiny Christian Church, its members and its pastor, Greg Fairrington, for selfishly ignoring multiple state-imposed orders to cease indoor gatherings — an especially reckless act given Placer County’s restricted intensive care unit capacity which recently dipped to zero.

But in a spirit of compassion that seems more apt this holiday season, here’s my message to Destiny: I am appealing to your Christian values of moral responsibility and love for your neighbors and urging you to remain in the safety of your homes this Christmas. Because this is the only way to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.

Your neighbors at other houses of worship have led by example. Sacramento Muslims celebrated Ramadan via livestreams. Local synagogues like B’nai Israel and Temple Or Rishon celebrated Hannukah online.

Bayside Church, however, which has a huge campus just a mile away from Destiny in Roseville, will also be holding both indoor and outdoor church services on Christmas Eve.

I understand that you might feel as if worshipping indoors is a constitutional right and an expression of your devotion. But choosing to gather indoors is just that — a choice.

“You come knowing the risk of this virus,” Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk told Destiny members at a recent indoor service. “You know that there’s a chance that you might interact with someone that’s a carrier and you’re willing to take that responsibility. That’s what liberty is all about.”

No, Charlie. That’s not liberty, that’s reckless endangerment.

When you choose to attend indoor church services, when you choose to travel for the holidays unnecessarily, when you choose not to wear a mask in public and when you choose to spread misinformation about COVID-19 you are actively putting your life and the lives of others in harm’s way.

Public criticism, news coverage and needless deaths due to irresponsible actions haven’t stopped such people yet. In fact, I fear it has emboldened them to play victim.

Following Sacramento Bee reporter Mike McGough’s coverage of Destiny’s indoor gatherings, he received 150 emails critical of his coverage, with the vast majority being the same copied-and-pasted message: “The Sacramento Bee is targeting houses of worship. Strips clubs are open. Liquor stores are open. Yet, the Sacramento Bee chooses to write and slander a church?”

Fairrington played the same blame game when he accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of using the pandemic to mount an attack on churches. And Charlie Kirk followed suit when he accused Democrats of having ulterior motives for restricting indoor church gatherings.

“It’s easier to invent underground enemies than it is to confront the culprit that is right in front of us. It’s easier to blame the unseen than to look at what we’ve done to each other,” reads a recent viral article about Mormon mommy bloggers who have actively doubted and discounted COVID-19.

There is no “war on churches.” We’re in a battle to defeat deadly COVID-19.

Currently, a record 18,000 Californians are hospitalized with the virus while 23,000 Californians have already died from it.

Thanksgiving gatherings resulted in “a surge superimposed upon a surge” of infections, said Dr. Anthony Fauci. Christmas threatens a surge upon a surge upon a surge. But experts say this is preventable if we wear masks, keep distance and avoid indoor gatherings.

“We believe that the local church serves a critical mental health, spiritual, and community outreach role in our communities,” said Destiny in a statement to The Bee.

This is true. But if you’re observing Christmas by jeopardizing the health of your entire community, you’re doing something deeply, immorally and sacrilegiously wrong. Risking the lives of neighbors and loved ones — that’s not the Christmas spirit. In fact, it’s the exact opposite.

This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 6:00 AM.