As people across the country watch Easter and prepare to celebrate Easter and Ramadan, countries are cracking down on religious gatherings to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. But some lawmakers and religious leaders challenge social exclusion measures.
In Kansas, that battle reached the Supreme Court.
Republican Senate President Susan Wagel painted the executive order as an attack on Christians. "Now, during the Holy Week for Christians, our churches are closed," Wagle said on Twitter. "We are doing our part to slow the spread."
In Kentucky, Andy Peacher State Governor announced on Friday that anyone who goes to a mass rally - including religious services - may register their license plates. This information will be used to determine the attendance, who will be contacted by local health officials and asked for a 14-day quarantine.
The US Senator Rand Paul and Representative Thomas Massey criticized the announcement. "Taking license plates in the church?" Paul tweeted late on Friday. "Isolating someone for being a Christian on Easter Sunday? Someone needs to take a step back here."
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the mayor of Louisville was violating religious freedoms by preventing church goers from driving services in church parking lots. But on Saturday afternoon, a federal judge criticized the mayor’s instructions for the churches, describing the move as excessive and unconstitutional.
"On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the mass celebration of Easter," US District Judge Justin Walker wrote in a temporary restraining order issued on Saturday.
In Louisiana, the Rev. Tony Spell continues to defy the state’s orders prohibiting gatherings of more than 50 people by holding church services, the latest of which he claimed had over 1,000 attendees. Spell told USA TODAY that he expects a crowd of more than 2,000 to gather at Life Tabernacle Church on Sunday. "We are a church aren't we?" he wrote in an email
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