A large group of Lutheran churches in Minnesota announced Thursday that it will no longer abide by Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order requiring churches to limit their services to 10 people.
The group, comprising the Minnesota North District and the Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, joined Catholic dioceses in Minnesota, which announced Wednesday night their intention to defy the order beginning this weekend. In a letter sent to Walz, the Lutheran churches said that they believe that since Walz has decided to open the state to businesses, churches should also be allowed to resume normal services.
The letter noted disappointment from church leaders that Walz laid out a plan for many businesses, including bars, to reopen but did not give “a timeline or any other assurances” that churches would also be able to open soon.
“We suspended in-person worship services as soon as we realized the threat and before we were required by your executive orders,” the churches wrote. “Now that you have deemed it safe to reopen non-critical businesses in Minnesota, we believe that the essential business of caring for the spiritual needs of our flocks with in-person meetings must also resume in a limited capacity.”
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In a similar letter addressed to Walz on Wednesday night, the seven Catholic bishops in the state said that while they were happy to follow the governor’s orders during the worst of the crisis, now that businesses are allowed to open, churches must no longer have their rights suspended.
“We are blessed to live in a nation that guarantees the free exercise of religion,” they wrote. “This right can only be abridged for a compelling governmental interest, and only in a way that is narrowly tailored to be the least restrictive means of achieving the desired end. That is why a large majority of states now allow in-person religious services, including many states that had previously suspended in-person religious services.”
The bishops also said that the “human cost” of the coronavirus pandemic is not limited to bodily health but that it also includes job loss, depression, crime, and substance abuse. Echoing the words of Pope Francis, they said that the Church must be a “field hospital,” especially as the country rebuilds from the pandemic.
Both groups said that they will continue to follow social distancing guidelines when they open up but will no longer keep the strict 10-person limit on gathering.
The Catholic and Lutheran groups are the first large denominations in the country to defy a governor’s shutdown order. Several groups of evangelical churches across the country have either sued governors or begun resuming services without the go-ahead from the government.
