Most churchgoerswant to defy COVID rules
As COVID-19 cases continue to spike in virtually every part of the country, an increasing number of Christians say churches should defy restrictions that public health experts say are crucial to containing the pandemic.
All told, just 39 percent of Christians now say they would want their congregation to abide by a government shutdownorder — a drop of 17 percentage points since March, when researchers fromDenison andEastern Illinois universities first asked the question.
It’s bipartisan, too. While the polling, conducted just before the presidential election and released Tuesday, shows that Republicans were far more likely to urge church defiance of local orders, Democrats also registered upticks over the last six months, researchers found.
Some of that may be simply due to “pandemic fatigue,” wrote Paul Djupe of Denison University and Ryan Burge of Eastern Illinois University. But they found another reason: the so-called “prosperity gospel,” a prominent strain of Christianity whose adherents believe God will reciprocate their demonstrations of faith with physical and financial health on Earth.
“The connection,” Burge and Djupe wrote, “is easy to see. If the church is the instrument of per
sonal health, then shuttering the church is a direct threat to personal safety during a pandemic.”
The report, “Church Defiance toCovid-19Restrictions is Growing,” comes as public health officials across the country warn of overcrowded hospitals and an ongoing wave of cases and deaths that will likely worsen as cold weather and upcoming holidays push more people inside and closer together.
Public health officials say the pandemic is likely to hit its nadir before a vaccine is cleared for widespread use. For months, health experts have warned against large religious gatherings because they often involve close personal contact or singing, during which those infected could spread the virusmuch farther than they would if they were simply talking.
Meanwhile, some prominent Christian leaders continue to cast doubt on the severity of a virus that has now killed more than a quartermillion Americans. In California, for example, John MacArthur, pastor of the massive Grace Community Church, has for weeks been engaged in a public — and now legal — war with local health officials over in-per
son worship restrictions.
Sean Feucht, a wellknown Christian musician, has faced similar blowback for continuing to hold worship services — often described as protests to flout local rules — in public spaces across the nation.
In Texas, Christian leaders have mounted similar challenges since March, when Gov. Greg Abbott and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo separately placed limitations on large gatherings both religious and not.
Many Houston congregations — including the massive Second Baptist Church and Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, one of the world’s best-known prosperity gospel congregations — have since reopened with limited congregants. But many others remain closed and plan to remain so through the holiday season.
“We are hearing our clients be respectful of government wishes and very careful when they open,” said William Vanderbloemen, head of a Houston-based church consultancy firm. “Everyone I know has really upped their online game.”
Experts, meanwhile, have largely defended restrictions as constitutional, so long as they’re applied equally to both religious and nonreligious activities.
“Our freedoms are not ab
solute, and religious freedom is balanced against other interests — including, in this case, public health and safety,” said Benjamin Marcus, religious literacy specialist at the Freedom Forum’s Religious Freedom Center in Washington, D.C.
But as the virus continues to spread, others are preparing for what they think will be another round of litigation over limits on churches.
JaredWoodfill, a Houston attorney, has represented multiple churches in legal challenges to local and state orders. That includes several in Houston as well as Cornerstone Church, a San Antonio megachurch whose pastor, John Hagee, recently contracted COVID-19. Woodfill said he thinks any future orders by Abbott will avoid strict limits on churches and said the new research bolsters his position that religious leaders, not the government, should have the final say on what is or isn’t safe for their congregations.
He also noted recent comments by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to the conservative Federalist Society, during which Alito criticized some government orders as too heavy-handed and potentially violating religious freedom.