Some say enforcing social distancing for Easter isn't religious persecution

<p>Some faith leaders are warning worshipers not to disobey state-issued stay-at-home orders during Holy Week, saying religious freedoms have nothing to do with the shuttering of faith-based gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>"What's happening in this jurisdiction is not an issue of religious persecution or restriction of religious freedom," Tony Perkins, president of the Christian lobbying organization the Family Research Council, told The Pod's Honest Truth's David Brody.</p><p> URL to Embed</p><p> Perkins warned that leaders, such as Pastor Tony Spell, the leader at Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, were hurting, not helping communities, especially during Holy Week and on Easter Day, which is April 12.</p><p>Spell defied Louisiana's ban on gatherings of more than 10, and held services at church for Palm Sunday, in which some 1,220 followers gathered. He later told CBS News that: “We derive our inalienable rights from God, not any government,” and reportedly told worshipers there was “nothing to fear."</p><p>"This is an issue of endangering the community. Louisiana has one of the highest rates of death, in fact, second only to New York per capita in terms of to the deaths from the COVID virus," said Perkins.</p><p>Other pastors who have defied state orders have met similar fates, including Tampa's Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who was arrested, but said after his release that he would move future worship online. Pastor Alvin Gwynn Sr., of Baltimore’s Friendship Baptist Church, reportedly said that he still plans to hold in-person Easter services, citing the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of worship and assembly.</p><p>Each state has taken a different approach to allowing exemptions for religious services. Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Delaware, Ohio, Texas and West Virginia have allowed some exemptions, while states such as Virginia and Maryland are requiring places of worship to limit in-person services to 10 people or less. Other states, such as Illinois,Maine and Kentucky have not labeled church services as essential.</p><p>Many Christian religious leaders have taken the lead and issued their own guidelines. The Episcopal Churchsaid in a statementthat suspending in-person public worship. The Mormon church announced that it has temporarily suspended all public gatherings worldwide until further notice. Many Catholic archdioceses, including Washington, D.C., Seattle and Lansing ordered the cancellation of public masses.</p><p>Sam Brownback, the president’s special envoy for religious freedom, said Thursday that “religious groups should practice social distancing.” Vice President Mike Pence said this week that churches should not host groups bigger than 10 people.</p><p>Perkins said he's helping organize a “drive-in” worship for Easter services in his Baton Rouge, Louisiana community to help maintain social distancing with a sunrise service at a stadium parking lot.</p><p>"And we're going to bring everybody and then we're going to broadcast it on a local FM station so people can listen from the comfort of their car on the radio station."</p>