A handful of pastors across the United States held Palm Sunday services in violation of state directives recommending or mandating that all “nonessential” entities shut down.
Church leaders in Louisiana, Texas, Massachusetts, and Ohio are refusing to close their churches, arguing that emergency regulations put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus undermine the constitutional right to religious freedom.
“We will continue to have church,” said Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge. “This is a government overreach. They are asking us as a government to stop practicing our freedom of religion. And we have a mandate from God to assemble and to gather together and to keep doing what we’re doing.”
He additionally told Reuters, “We’re defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel. The church is the last force resisting the Antichrist, let us assemble regardless of what anyone says.”
Police have twice charged Spell, who held three Palm Sunday services, with defying public orders, but the pastor has remained committed to keeping his church, which normally serves hundreds of congregants, open to the public.
“Instead of showing the strength and resilience of our community during this difficult time, Mr. Spell has chosen to embarrass us for his own self-promotion,” Baton Rouge Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran said Tuesday.
Kelly Burton pastors a Baptist church in Lone Star, Texas, and has continued to hold services in the church’s parking lot, including on Palm Sunday, despite recommendations from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that Texans avoid gathering in groups of more than 10.
“Satan’s trying to keep us apart; he’s trying to keep us from worshiping together. But we’re not going to let him win,” Burton wrote on Facebook.
Solid Rock megachurch in Ohio also invited the public to come worship on Palm Sunday against the advice of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. The church has said that it has canceled its youth events, scaled back other gatherings, and is taking precautions to protect congregants during the service.
Despite the church’s efforts, DeWine has criticized church leadership for moving forward with their Palm Sunday plans instead of hosting some other form of service over the internet, like numerous other churches across the United States have. The governor said the church is putting people at high, unnecessary risk.
“It is not a Christian thing to do,” DeWine said.
