President Trump told pastors who are planning to hold services to “heal our country” instead of holding in-person services on Easter Sunday.
“Let’s get healed before we do this,” Trump said at a Friday press briefing. “There’s time to do that. Hopefully, we’ll do that for the rest of our lives.”
Trump’s comments came after a question asking him to speak to the minority of pastors who have decided to hold services on Easter Sunday despite state ordinances and federal guidelines urging them not to do so. A vocal minority of pastors have said that they plan to hold Easter services anyway, citing the First Amendment in their reasoning.
Trump praised church leaders who have decided to move their services online out of public safety concerns.
“Most of the pastors agree that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is distancing,” Trump said. “They feel that they want to get this over with and let’s get back to church, so badly.”
Trump said that he would be viewing an Easter service “on a laptop,” hosted by Robert Jeffress, an evangelical pastor in Dallas who is an ally of the president. Trump added that he has been watching online services for the past three weeks.
“A laptop is not the same as being in his church or being in any other church. It’s not, no matter what you say. You can’t say, ‘Oh, isn’t it wonderful?'” Trump said, later adding, “It doesn’t sound good, but it’s one of those things.”
Trump on Friday also asked that all people pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic in a televised address that took place hours before his daily briefing.
“Though we will not be able to gather together with one another as we normally would on Easter, we can use this sacred time to focus on prayer, reflection, and growing in our personal relationship with God, so important,” Trump said.
