The church announced strict rules: No children under 11 were allowed; worshipers had to sit six feet apart from each other and were required to wear masks; every person’s temperature was checked at the door. No one could use church-owned Bibles or drink from the water fountains, and only two people at a time could use the restroom. Staff and volunteers made sure to let people in and then dismiss them again at a distance from each other, and cleaned the pews between each service.
Still, all the protocols did not meet county rules. Rev. James “Pat” Packett spoke in his sermon at the 11 a.m. service of Trump’s “executive order” and made it clear he believed that it carried the force of law. “Sadly, our county executive has refused to recognize those orders of the president,” Packett said.
Trump issued no such order.
“We who are Christians, I believe, have been unfairly discriminated against by governmental mandates that have abrogated or tried to abrogate our First Amendment rights,” he said, though the orders in Maryland and in all states apply equally to houses of worship of any faith.
County Executive Steuart Pittman said the health department had been trying to reach the church’s leaders to discuss the risks.
“We’re not going to arrest people for going to church,” Pittman said, but he wanted to make sure the pastor knew that the church risked lawsuits from its members or others if new cases of the virus can be traced to the services.
“When they willfully neglect to follow the health rules and the consequences are illness and death, they’re going to have some issues with people who decide to file lawsuits against them,” he said.
He noted that Anne Arundel County has a team of more than 100 contact tracers who could establish a link from these services to new coronavirus cases. “There’s a strong possibility, whether it’s a church or any other institution that violates the order and spreads the virus, it will be known,” he said.
Pittman said he has spoken with many clergy members about the restrictions that allow only 10 people inside a church building at a time and has received approving letters from dozens more pastors who support the restrictions. “This is an unusual case where the pastor has decided that the president’s statement authorizes him to hold services,” Pittman said about Packett. “The president does not have that authority in our state.”