
Some defiant US churches plan Easter services, ignoring public health guidelines - anigbrowl
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-easter-usa-idUSKCN21S10Y
======
dang
All: Flamewar of any flavor is off topic here. If the indignation/information
ratio of your forthcoming comment is high, please self-isolate until
signal/noise returns at least to normal.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

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joncp
Finding the worst crackpots and giving them a platform is not good journalism.
Instead, Reuters should be reaching out to the >> 99% of churches that are
sane and finding out what they're doing to help people being affected by the
virus and recession.

... but interviewing sane people doesn't generate clicks.

~~~
ceejayoz
South Korea’s initial big spike in cases came from a single superspreader
going to a religious gathering. It’s not unreasonable to highlight the
potential for that here.

~~~
yters
Have you read much about the religious gathering to understand whether it is
similar to a normal church service?

~~~
dunham
I'm not familiar with South Korean church practices, but there is an instance
of a choir practice in the US that spread COVID-19 fairly effectively. This
suggests that singing, a common practice in US churches (in my experience),
spreads the disease. An article on the event reports that the choir members
attempted to distance themselves from each other and use hand sanitizer.

[https://nypost.com/2020/03/30/washington-choir-rehearsal-
tur...](https://nypost.com/2020/03/30/washington-choir-rehearsal-turns-deadly-
after-coronavirus-kills-2/)

~~~
yters
The members also averaged 63 years old, right in the most likely age group to
catch the virus.

~~~
yongjik
The South Korean cult church had tons of people in their 20s, and they got the
virus all the same.

Being young just means they don't _die_ easily, but they are quite capable of
catching the virus and spreading to others who may die more easily.

~~~
yters
that was a mass, tightly packed congregation

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stordoff
Maybe they should take a little wisdom from Isaiah (20:26):

> Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide
> yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.

~~~
earthshot
And Matthew 6:5-6

> And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray
> standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.
> Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you
> pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is
> unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

~~~
papermachete
The whole point is to consume communion Easter night, you can't do this at
home.

~~~
true_religion
How important is communion in those churches? From what I can see none of them
are Anglican, orthodox, or Roman Catholic. They’re all evangelical Protestant.

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daenz
Can we all agree that even though the freedom of assembly is constitutionally
protected right, it is a stupid idea to exercise it during a pandemic?

~~~
knicholes
Personally I think it's a stupid idea to worship in general, but within the
context of a believer who believes that God blesses them for good actions and
loves them, perhaps they feel like God will protect them. Or if they do die,
they'll be rewarded handsomely for being true believers and dying as martyrs.

~~~
abootstrapper
They obviously haven't considered that maybe they'll be punished in the
afterlife for knowingly endangering others for the sake of their own perceived
salvation.

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adaisadais
“...a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;”

Ecclesiastes 3:5

The whole of Ecclesiastes is especially good in tough times. The book itself
has many stoic qualities. But this part, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, rings so true
right now:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up
what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and
a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and
a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones
together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to
seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to
tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time
to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Now is the time to refrain from embracing.

------
threatofrain
Texas still allows churches to meet in size of 50, declaring it an essential
service, while abortion clinics have been closed.

------
HarryHirsch
Trouble is that singing in a confined space is an _excellent_ recipe for
spreading coronavirus. One early hotspot in a rural area, totally unequipped
to deal with the scale of the outbreak, was Albany, GA, where someone brought
the virus to a funeral service. Dougherty County (~ 90000 inhabitants) is now
at 1062 cases, when surrounding counties have maybe 50 or 100 cases. Chambers
County (~ 30000 citizens) in Alabama has 168 cases, traceable to a church.

Permitting the God-tempters to carry on is madness. It must be permitted for
physicians to say "Fuck off and die, leave civilized society alone".

------
simonblack
Entrants in this year's Darwin Awards.

------
gfosco
They can have services and still respect social distancing just like the
supermarkets. Let's not get crazy here with the authoritarianism.

~~~
mrlala
Then why can't all business just be open and "respect social distancing" as
you claim?

I guess next you'll tell me a church is a vital business like a grocery store.

~~~
h_r
This made me laugh out loud. Early this afternoon I walked by a local church
on the way to do some shopping and there was a group of 8 or 9 people kneeling
in front of it praying. They were holding signs with various slogans, one of
which said exactly that: Churches are vital business.

I should mention this is a Catholic church that serves the Eucharist during
every mass where multiple people hand out wafers to eat, using their bare
hands. [edit: grammar and additions]

~~~
true_religion
Catholicism has a long storied history, so there are provisions for almost
everything.

I remember in school learning that if you were on shipwrecked on a desert
island, you or anyone else could perform sacraments yourself and they would
count just as well as if they were done by a priest.

This is the practice of “spiritual communion”. In modern times, it has most
notably been used where a person is sick, or otherwise inaccessible to a
priest (e.g. stuck in a mine shaft or on an oil rig or in space). This is
currently what the Catholic Pope is promoting.

There is also a happy debate going on about if you can perform sacraments via
the internet. There is nothing liturgical about distance to the participant.
The rules regarding sacraments are more about intention and who is performing
it. _Some_ priest believe that physical presence is always unimportant, but
our slow moving Papacy takes a more conservative stance.

------
tomohawk
On the one hand:

    
    
        Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..
    

Through the 14th amendment, this also applies to the states.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_the_Bill_of_R...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_the_Bill_of_Rights)

On the other hand, it is not a suicide pact.

And yet, on the other hand, it seems unlikely that a state will be able to
defend a blanket prohibition against all religious gatherings of any kind.
What if, for example, a church were to assemble and maintain social
distancing?

And yet, on the other other hand, it seems like a really bad idea for a church
to make a point of exercising their rights at this time.

I Cor 8:11

But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to
those who are weak.

~~~
Wowfunhappy
I feel like we have to let the churches do what they want here. They're being
totally reckless and people are going to die because of it–but I think the
implications of stopping them would be even worse long-term.

~~~
jasonpeacock
What are the worse long-term implications than people dying?

~~~
saagarjha
Losing First Amendment rights?

~~~
krapp
There is absolutely zero long term risk of any such thing. Especially not for
Christians in the United States.

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lidHanteyk
As a Pastafarian, it is interesting to me that folks are justifying their
behavior based on delusional historical beliefs. I am now brainstorming how
the Satanists might reply to this; they are keen to examine poor Christian
behavior and satirize it [0][1][2][3].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_School_Satan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_School_Satan)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Baphomet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Baphomet)

[2] [https://protectchildrenproject.com/](https://protectchildrenproject.com/)

[3]
[https://apnews.com/6addf2f0ecb646919cb1cfcfdacfc6c1](https://apnews.com/6addf2f0ecb646919cb1cfcfdacfc6c1)

