Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Praise God and pass the virus

"Church services linked to new cases" reports the Los Angeles Times this morning, just hours after I finished posting about my friends in Santa Ana whose churches remain open.  Actually the LAT article went online yesterday afternoon. 

A person received Covid-positive test results on May 11, a day after attending a Mother's Day service that attracted 180 people in Butte County in defiance of the state prohibition against large gatherings.

"...for our church it is essential to be together in fellowship," wrote the pastor of Palermo Family Bible Church on social media.  

Three more cases were traced to an unidentified church in Mendocino County after a Mother's Day service "which involved singing."  

"Praise the LORD! Sing to YHWH a new song," is now both a biblical command and illegal.  Psalms 146 to 150 are full of this admonition.  No wonder some churches see a government conspiracy. 

Singing has been suspect since last March when 45 people at church choir practice in Mt. Vernon, Washington, became infected with the virus and two died.   

Experts said at the time that it was possible that the forceful breathing action of singing dispersed viral particles in the church room that were widely inhaled," report Alex Wigglesworth and David Hernandez in the LAT article.

Two churches in San Diego County were part of the report, Rushing Wind Church in Oceanside and Hilltop Tabernacle in Chula Vista, which has been visited by police four times since late March.

A federal judge there ruled Friday that closing churches is not discrimination against religion, just "a legal use of state authority in the time of a health emergency."  

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