NC churches can reopen. Why these ministers will keep the sanctuary doors closed.

The Rev. Jerome J. Washington has spoken by phone with congregants alone in hospital rooms because no visitors were allowed.

He has counseled families burying loved ones as they decide which 10 or 20 people can attend a funeral under social-distancing rules.

He does not know of any members of Mount Vernon Baptist Church who have been infected with the coronavirus, but he said the predominantly black Durham church has members in nursing homes where cases have been reported.

It is not time to reopen churches and other houses of worship to indoor services, he said in an interview Wednesday.

“The church of Jesus Christ has never been assigned to a building,” Washington said.

“My ancestors didn’t have a building,” he said. “They gathered by the river or under a tree to worship when it was illegal for enslaved people to (come together to worship).” When praying together could mean death, he said.

Today, praying together could mean death of a different sort, Washington and others believe.

On Thursday, members of Durham Clergy United plan to stand six feet apart at 10 a.m. outside Mount Vernon Church on South Roxboro Street and explain why they will not be reopening their sanctuaries now that a lawsuit has blocked Gov. Roy Cooper’s limits on indoor religious services.

“We believe in the divine protection of God and we believe in freedom of assembly,” Elder James Blake, pastor of Fisher Memorial United Holy Church of Durham, stated in a news release.

“However, as a population that is disproportionately affected by the coronavirus and resulting COVID-19,” he continued, “it is my heartfelt belief that we should not fully open churches until there is a drastic decline in the rates of exposure, contracting, suffering and deaths from COVID-19.”

Some churches reopen sanctuary doors

Those who sued the state said during a rally last week that churchgoers need their churches now more than ever. They argued that the governor should not be imposing stricter rules on religious groups than retail businesses, which were being allowed to reopen at half capacity.

“Freedoms curbed eventually becomes no freedom at all,” the Rev. Ron Baity, pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said outside the Legislative Building in Raleigh, the Associated Press reported.

Soon several sheriffs said they would not enforce the governor’s order restricting indoor services to 10 people when outdoor worship was not possible. A federal judge blocked the restriction, and Cooper said he would not appeal, The News & Observer reported. Some churches returned to indoor services Sunday.

But others disagree.

The N.C. Council of Churches this week called on its 6,200 congregations in 18 denominations not to reopen their sanctuaries.

“This is not a political issue. This is a theological matter,” executive director Jennifer Copeland said in a video message Tuesday. “Right now we love our neighbor best by keeping our distance from them.”

In an interview Wednesday, Copeland said group worship puts people in close contact for an hour or more, breathing the same air. Even people who may show no symptoms can transmit the virus, she said.

Donations made on Sunday mornings are important to many churches, but those donations will go away if people become sick, miss work or lose their jobs as the pandemic continues, Copeland said.

In the meantime, people can support their houses of worship without going indoors, where practices like communion, passing a donation plate and singing can put them at risk, she and others said.

In Germany, churches have reopened without congregational singing, said the Rev. Mel Williams, pastor emeritus at Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham and a former associate minister at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh. Williams agrees that churches should not be holding indoor services now.

Singing can be a “super spreader,” Christianity Today reported, citing a 2019 report in the journal Nature that said loud singing can spread virus particles more than coughing.

“You can’t do it,” Williams said. “The spit is flying when you’re singing.”

‘The wisest course of action’

The Rev. Rob Phillips, pastor of invitation and engagement at White Plains United Methodist Church in Cary, also cited safety in his church’s decision to continue online-only worship for awhile.

“While we may have the legal right to hold worship in our building that doesn’t mean it is the wisest course of action,” he said. Online services and social media have helped the church connect to more people than ever during the lockdown, he said.

John Erwin, executive pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, said his church hopes to reopen in June. When it does, Erwin said, it will be in a touchless service, meaning no touching of door handles or handouts. The church may also hold services on days other than just Sundays to spread out attendance.

Pastors acknowledged people’s desire to return indoors, even among older, regular churchgoers who may be at higher risk.

Christi Dye, pastor of Millbrook United Methodist Church in Raleigh, said the church surveyed its members and decided not to hold indoor services yet.

With all the social-distancing measures required, Dye said, limiting capacity, staying 6 feet apart, no touching, no singing and face masks, “we feel that the experience would feel so regimented and require so many mental and behavioral shifts, that our people may well not even get the spiritual nourishment they seek.”

Both Washington and Copeland said those challenging Cooper’s orders are making this a political issue instead of following the science.

“It is not the government that has hindered our worship,” Washington said. “It is our concern for the health of our people that has stopped Mount Vernon from worshiping in the building” it has occupied just outside downtown Durham since 1941.

“People ought not mistake politics that is shrouded in spirituality,” he said.

“In the church of Jesus Christ the cross stands taller than the flag,” he continued. People must guard against those who preach “the gospel according to a segment of America.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 2:59 PM with the headline "NC churches can reopen. Why these ministers will keep the sanctuary doors closed.."