Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
#TTFCovid19
تتفچوۏيد19: باڽق ڬرجا دنيا ايڠكر كاولن ڤرڬرقن، دعوا كوڠسي سودو ءتياد مسئلهء
Hundreds of churchgoers in Louisiana attended services on Sunday, angering neighbours and turning a deaf ear to governor John Bel Edwards, who warned yet again that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed with cased of Covid-19.
A report read:
“Assistant ministers and worshippers who stood outside the front doors and in the parking lot of Life Tabernacle told news reporters to leave, saying cameras would not be allowed on the property and they had been told not to talk to the news media. They went inside without further comment.
“Across the street, Paul Quinn and other neighbors took pains to stay 6 feet (2 meters) apart from each other as they stood in a driveway and commented on their opposition to the services being held.
“Other congregations are using the internet, Skype, and other safe ways to congregate. Why can’t they? What makes them so special?” Quinn asked. “I wish state police would come out and do something. … If they get out of church and go to the grocery store, it’s a serious health hazard. They don’t know how many people they’re affecting, and they don’t seem to care. That’s a problem.”
“Briefly commenting Sunday in the church’s parking lot, Timothy Spell, father of Pastor Tony Spell, said Life Tabernacle has a right to assembly, is not forcing anyone to attend services, is not breaking any laws and will continue to hold services at the church.
Also ignoring calls for social distancing were several priests in Romania and Georgia, two countries with strongly Orthodox Christian populations, who continued to hold communion rituals and insisted on using shared spoons.
According to a report, last Sunday, the day after Romania had been put into a strict lockdown, footage emerged showing priests from the city of Cluj using a shared spoon.
In Georgia, Churches claim that one cannot get ill from sharing spoons as communion is a holy ceremony.
Instead of barring people from congregating, priests there are telling worshippers not to spend long periods of time in churches and not to come if ill.
But the award for “the most ridiculous, nonsensical and insane” position on the pandemic taken by any leader of any kind has to go to Brazilian president Jair bolsonaro, who, after having included churches in a list of “public services and essential activities,” likened the Coronavirus to a “little flu.”
Rio’s Assembly of God Victory in Christ church even went to court and won a verdict to stay open.
“People are really suffering with this, because they need this spiritual, emotional and financial support,” said Pastor Josué Valandro Jr. “It is very serious to close all the churches.”
