The United States President, Donald Trump, has ordered the reopening of all houses of worship in the country.
While disclosing this on Friday May 22, 2020, Trump stated that all houses of worship would be considered “essential services” and urged governors to “do the right thing” and reopen them immediately.
He added that he would “override” them if they didn’t.
“Today, I am identifying houses of worship, churches, synagogues, and mosques, as essential places that provide essential services,” Trump said.
“Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics essential, but have left out churches and other houses of worship, it’s not right. So I am correcting this injustice and calling houses of worship essential. I call upon governors to allow churches and places of worship to open right now,” he explained.
“If there is any question, they will have to call me, but they are not going to be successful in that call,”’ he added.
“The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important, essential places of faith to open right now, for this weekend. If they do not do it, I will override the governors. In America, we need more prayer, not less,” Trump stated.
Trump further stated he had planned to take “a very strong position” on church reopenings as the country struggles to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed at least 95,000 Americans to date.
“The churches are not being treated with respect by a lot of the Democrat governors. I want to get the churches and mosques open, and we’re going to take a very strong position on that very soon,” he concluded.
Trump’s directive followed the imposition of fines on churches for holding services that do not comply with Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide stay-at-home order in Chicago.
The Chicago Police Department told Fox News that three churches will be hit with penalties for services that were held on Sunday.
Some churches that had already reopened later closed after congregants came down with coronavirus.
A Georgia church that reopened a few weeks ago is closing its doors again after several families came down with COVID-19.
