President Donald Trump is expressing disapproval of Democratic governors’ limitations on churches and religious services as states reopen.
As the president prepared to depart the White House for his trip to Michigan, he briefly spoke with reporters.
Reiterating his desire to “get our country back to normal,” he touched on one of the issues he’s particularly concerned about — the reopening of churches.
Trump is vowing to take action against Democratic governors he believes are disrespecting churches.
“One of the other things I want to do is get our churches open,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “The churches are not being treated with respect by a lot of the Democrat governors. We’re going to take a very strong position on that very soon.”
See Trump’s remarks below:
"The churches are not being treated with respect by a lot of Democratic governors."@realDonaldTrump says action is coming on church closures, and that includes mosques, too. pic.twitter.com/4NpCn1BuDF
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 21, 2020
Trump’s latest concerns come as multiple governors are being criticized for their decision not to offer reopening guidelines for churches during early phases of reopening.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D), Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D), and most recently Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) have been faced with concerns and opposition for their state’s stance on churches.
In fact, Walz’s order has been met with criticism due to the state’s double standard for restaurants, as previously reported on IJR. Phase two of Minnesota’s reopening plan allows for restaurant gatherings up to 50 people while church gatherings are restricted to 10 people or less.
When asked about the order, Walz said there was no perfect answer but alluded to predictability being a factor in the decision. Then, he conceded that churches likely have more predictable frequency.
According to global health experts, full capacity gatherings with no restrictions—which is the category most churches fall under — would likely be prohibited until a viable vaccine with “ubiquitous testing or vastly improved treatment” is made available.
As of Thursday afternoon, there are more than 1.6 million positive coronavirus cases in the United States as the country’s death toll approaches 100,000.
