California Releases Guidelines For Reopening Places of Worship, Limits Attendance

The California Department of Public Health released new guidelines that will allow churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of religious worship to reopen and hold in-person services with limited worshipers.

President Donald Trump has previously said that churches were “essential” and implied that some states did not treat places of worship “with respect.”

Governor Gavin Newsom released the guidelines three days after Trump threatened to “override” states that continued to disallow in-person religious services.

The DPH guidelines limit attendance during religious services to 25% of the capacity of the building or 100 people, whichever was lower. The guidelines discourage choirs, shaking hands, hugging, sharing religious items and passing collection plates.

The guidelines also include warning that the risks of infection are still higher during gatherings like in-person services even with physical distancing and masks.

The state also asked religious groups to change some elements of the service to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. It also urged religious organizations to hold services outdoors whenever possible and shorten the time worshipers spend with each other.

Some churches have spoken against the reopening. Third Baptist Church pastor Rev. Amos Brown told the Associated Press that his denomination was not “rushing back to church,” noting the leaders who became sick or have since died across the U.S.

“Freedom of religion is not the freedom to kill folks, not the freedom to put people in harm’s way. That’s insane,” Brown said.

Other churches have already defied Newsom’s orders for closure and reopened ahead of schedule. Pastor Jon Duncan of Cross Culture Christian Center told the AP that churches in the state suffered because state officials chose to “marginalize and criminalize” religious gatherings.

Newsom has said that he worked with religious leaders “all up and down the state, working on the differentiation, the large mega-churches versus more neighborhood-style churches and different styles of pews and sanitation protocols, synagogues versus working with other faiths.”

A lawsuit filed by a church in Southern California against the closures had already reached the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday night (May 24).

California has had nearly 95,000 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. There have been nearly 3,800 deaths in the state as of May 25.