President Trump stepped into the culture wars again on Friday, taking the side of some religious leaders against governors who have moved slowly in reopening houses of worship amid the pandemic.
Without any clear authority to do so, he said that he was calling houses of faith, including churches, synagogues, and mosques, “essential services” and urged governors to reopen them “right now.”
“Today I am identifying houses of worship — churches, synagogue and mosques — as essential places that provide essential services,” Mr. Trump said at a hastily scheduled briefing at the White House on Friday. “Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential but have left out churches and other houses of worship. It’s not right.”
It was not immediately clear what powers the president was claiming.“I call upon governors to allow our churches and places of worship to open right now,” he said. “If there’s any question, they’re going to have to call me but they’re not going to be successful in that call.”
Religious services have emerged as flashpoints since states first began restricting large gatherings as they sought to curb the spread of the virus. Mr. Trump initially hoped to let the country reopen by Easter, a goal that proved untenable as the outbreak continued to grow.
In several cases his Justice Department has put its weight behind religious institutions battling state and local restrictions. After the department lent its support last month to a Mississippi church that was penalized for holding drive-in services in defiance of local virus restrictions, Attorney General William P. Barr said in a statement: “Even in times of emergency, when reasonable and temporary restrictions are placed on rights, the First Amendment and federal statutory law prohibit discrimination against religious institutions and religious believers.”
And Justice Department lawyers wrote a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom of California this week objecting to his timeline for letting religious institutions reopen.
When the C.D.C. recently released a set of guidelines for reopening, the report they initially released largely mirrored a draft version that had been rejected by the White House — but it omitted a section on “communities of faith” that had troubled Trump administration officials.
In the draft, religious institutions had been encouraged to have all congregants wear masks and to suspend any “choir or music ensemble,” but administration officials worried that the suggestions infringed on religious rights.
On Friday Mr. Trump said that “at my direction, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issuing guidance for communities of faiths.”
Mr. Trump said that the nation needs religion. “In America we need more prayer, not less,” he said. He left without taking questions.
Later during the briefing Friday Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, said that worshipers should use social distancing measures and urged some restraint.
“I think each one of the leaders in the faith community should be in touch with their local health departments so that they can communicate to their congregants,” she said at the briefing. “Certainly, people that have significant co-morbidities, we want them protected. I know those houses of worship want to protect them. Maybe they can’t go this week if there’s a high number of Covid cases, maybe they wait another week.”
David Postman, the chief of staff for Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, said the state didn’t know what the president’s comments meant and the state had not seen any sort of formal order.
“We don’t believe the president has the ability to dictate what states can and cannot open,” Mr. Postman said.
The president’s move came as health officials have found that worship gatherings can be particularly susceptible to viral spread. And some churches that recently reopened were forced to close again after discovering new infections, including Catoosa Baptist Tabernacle in Ringgold, Ga., and Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Houston.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report this week about an outbreak in March at a rural Arkansas church. Of the 92 people who attended the church between March 6 and March 11, the report said, 35 tested positive and three died. And investigators found that another 26 other people who were in contact with the people who attended church events later tested positive, and one died.
The New York Times
