LAURINBURG — As North Carolina moves closer to the potential start of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Phase II of his reopening plan, elected officials and religious leaders across the state are at odds with the governor’s restriction on church services.
At least two local pastors, as well as the local sheriff, have their own views.
In Phase I of his plan, implemented on May 15, Cooper loosened restrictions on religious gatherings to the point of allowing outdoor gatherings of any size for church services, as long as social-distancing is in place. That would mean attendees would need to stay six feet or more apart.
But there may be a glitch in Cooper’s mandate.
“I’m still trying to get clarity on this, but it looks like there is a loophole in what the governor said,” Bright Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church’s Rev. Garland Pierce, who is also a Democratic member of the state’s House of Representatives, said this week. “He said church services must be held outdoors unless impossible to do so.
“So does that mean if it’s cold or raining and your equipment might get messed up … you can move indoors?” he added. “I think a lot of people want to define what ‘impossible’ means.”
Michael Edds, senior pastor at Cross Pointe Church in Laurinburg, takes a harder view of the governor’s religious restrictions.
“I believe for a while it was helpful, but now it’s detrimental,” he said. “The governor is keeping liquor stores open so people can get their alcohol fix, but churches are being restricted.
“The gospel of Jesus offers hope, and people need that now more than ever,” Edds continued. “It’s time for the governor to back off and let us use our common sense.”
The opposition to Cooper’s church service gatherings has been growing across the state.
On Thursday, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell announced that his department won’t enforce state guidelines limiting church attendance during the coronavirus pandemic, calling the state’s 10-person limit on in-person church services “unfair” and “morally wrong.”
“If social distancing and other guidelines are good enough to allow big box stores to operate? Why is it not good enough for in-person church services?” Bizzell wrote in his letter.
Bizzell said he was prepared to back up his stance on the issue, stating that he would lay his badge down and “go home” if he were forced to uphold the governor’s restriction on church services.
Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey indicated that he stands with Bizzell on the issue.
“I am going to use Sheriff Bizzell’s quote … ‘As long as I’m sheriff, my deputies nor I will forgo that oath and interfere or prevent churchgoers to peaceably assemble and exercise their constitutional right to freely worship,’” Kersey said in an email. “There is no better place to be than in the house of our Lord; there is no better time than now to believe in His Word.”
For now, like many local churches, Bright Hopewell will continue to hold online services.
“Our leadership is waiting until June 1 to get back,” Pierce said. “We hope we can get back together then — especially for those in the congregation who are aging.”
Edds said that Cross Pointe Church has also been holding online services but, on Saturday will host its first no-contact, drive-thru services starting at 6 p.m.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected]. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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