North Carolina churches meet after pandemic restrictions are blocked
New Life Baptist Church on Sunday held its first indoor worship service in weeks, the day after a federal judge blocked state restrictions on religious services in the pandemic.
Much of the debate in the last week over Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home order centered on religious gatherings. His office sought to clarify the order limiting indoor services to 10 people, but Republican state senators objected, some county sheriffs said they would not enforce the rule, churchgoers rallied in protest, and a federal lawsuit was filed, The News & Observer reported. Cooper’s office said Saturday it would not appeal the ruling.
Steve Grice, pastor of New Life Baptist, made the decision to hold the indoor service before U.S. District Court Judge James C. Dever III filed his order. Grice said in an interview that the church had been meeting in the parking lot, but the distractions were too much.
Cars would turn around in the gravel driveway during the service, he said, and one Sunday an ATV driver barreled up and down the road.
“I felt strongly that we could do this safely,” Grice said.
Hand sanitizer and face masks sat on a back table. While some families or friends sat in pairs or clusters, for the most part the 25 people who attended the service sat at least 6 feet apart. Two deputies whom Grice said he paid for sat in a pew. His decision to have an indoor service attracted a lot of attention on Facebook, and Grice said he wanted the deputies there in case there was any trouble. No one disrupted the service.
Though the executive order on indoor church attendance is blocked, congregations continued to meet outdoors, as the executive order encourages.
Dozens of people knelt in the grass behind Saint Ann Catholic Church in Clayton. Musicians rehearsed in front of Crosspoint Community Church in Clayton. Spaces for cars were marked 6 feet apart.
Crosspoint’s Pastor Renard Sharrett said the church was thinking about moving services back inside, and could do so safely. The building can hold 140 and up to 40 people attend the church on Sunday, he said.
“We’re looking to obviously be good citizens and honor our authorities as we’re called to, but also honor God first and foremost,” he said. “And so it is a balance there, understanding ultimately though our allegiance is to God when it’s all said and done.”
In other states
As states across the nation responded to coronavirus concerns, restrictions for religious services varied.
Some, including California, prohibited services. Others joined North Carolina in limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people, including Alabama and Virginia.
Georgia, South Carolina and many other states exempted religious services from statewide coronavirus restrictions.
In mid-May, some states that limited services, including Alabama and Virginia, loosened the statewide limits. Alabama provided guidelines, while Virginia limited capacity to 50%.
North Carolina isn’t the only state that has faced a federal court challenge for prohibiting in-person religious services.
So far courts in California have reinforced the state’s authority amid challenges from religious organizations, while federal judges allowed Kentucky’s churches to open with a May 8 ruling.
Churches treated different from stores
At Brookhaven Baptist Church in Greensboro, Senior Pastor Fred T. Daniel Jr. led more than two dozen members of his congregation in worship.
Families sat together in the pews, spacing themselves apart from other families and individuals. On this Sunday, there was no choir, and collection plates were not passed among members. Church deacons walked collection plates around to collect offerings.
“Churches are a necessity, and especially for our spiritual growth,” said Mark S. Allen, a church deacon. “They can open an ABC store, but they can’t open a church? Give me a break.”
In Smithfield, Grice said he decided to meet indoors after Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said last week that his deputies would not enforce the rule and because of inconsistencies he saw in the rules for retail stores and churches.
Retail stores were allowed to open at 50% capacity on May 8. Grice said he’s seen crowds at Lowe’s that appeared to be more dangerous than his church setting.
“If 400 can be in Lowe’s, and they’re touching everything, that’s spreading way more germs than we will here,” he said. “We’re not touching anything. We’re not passing plates. We’re not singing. We’re not doing things we normally do. We’re just going to come and be inside and worship.”
During the hour set aside for Sunday school, Grice joked that he considered holding the service in Lowe’s plumbing section.
Darrell Taylor, 56, said he has attended New Life Baptist since 2012, and as a recovering substance abuser, the worship service is important to his maintaining his sobriety.
“AA is not meeting. This church is,” Taylor said. “I need God in my life.”
This story was originally published May 17, 2020 at 3:14 PM.
