Cancelling Easter services is insult to Christians, say church bodies

There is no evidence that church gatherings are superspreader events and, if the government decided to “disadvantage” Easter Weekend services with new regulations, religious leaders would turn to the courts, according to the SA National Christian Forum (SANCF).

Cancelling or reducing the numbers for Easter church services this year is an insult and an attack on the Christian community, SANCF president Bishop Marothi Mashashane told Sunday Times Daily.

The forum, representing 171 churches, maintain there is no evidence to suggest church gatherings are super spreader events.

Mashashane said SANCF would “immediately” approach the courts to set aside “any regulation that disadvantage the religious gatherings during Easter weekend”.

“Our position is still based on government’s double standards when coming to implementation of their own regulations; this proves a lack of consistency,” he said.

The Easter holiday season marks one of the most important and oldest festival weekends in the Christian tradition that marks the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

With Easter fast approaching, religious organisations said they were waiting to see if government would tighten lockdown regulations.

Last year, due to stringent lockdown regulations, churches had to shut their doors.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that the government was considering allowing outdoor gatherings of up to 5,000 people and indoor gatherings of up to 1,000 to accommodate religious gatherings over Easter.

Two senior sources privy to discussions that took place in the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) this past week told the paper that government was also considering restricting or barring alcohol sales over Easter and banning interprovincial travel to limit the movement of people between provinces. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to meet provincial premiers on Monday after which deliberations would be taken to the cabinet for a final decision.

Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana from the SA Council of Churches (SACC) said they would continue to be committed to driving down the infection rate.

The council represents 43 church organisations and Christian NGOs.

Mpumlwana said they were the first to call for a lockdown in March 2020.

He said churches had developed “norms, standards and guidelines” to manage their congregations during the pandemic.

“The churches are saying that they would like to have for Easter, the ability to have half the size of square metres of their church. For example, if your church is 100m2, it should have 50 people. If it is 500m2, it should have 250 people.”

Mpumlwana said mega churches under the SACC that have auditoriums for 6,000 had requested to have 1,000 members attend services.

“The superspreaders are the funerals and not the church services ... because of the emotions, the hugging and crying, the eating and feeding and drinking of teas at funerals. Those things don’t happen at a regular morning church service.

The biggest annual Easter pilgrimage, to Moria by the Zion Christian Church members, was called off last year, days after lockdown was announced. An estimated million people previously made the pilgrimage.

The secretary for Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane told Sunday Times Daily he would look at the questions sent on Wednesday afternoon and discuss it with Lekganyane. By the time of publication, no response was forthcoming.

Bishop Mosa Sono from Grace Bible Church in Pimville, Soweto also expressed his disappointment about the limit on the number of people allowed to attend church services.

Sono said interfaith leaders made presentations to Ramaphosa, the command council and the officials from Cogta last week Wednesday and were hoping they would be “favourably considered”.

“We were hoping that we would be allowed to use 50% of our premises.”

The estimated membership at the church in Soweto is about 10,000.

Sono said Grace Bible Church will go ahead with its Easter services across various platforms, but would ensure they do not break any Covid-19 regulations.

Meanwhile, Enoch Mthembu from the Nazareth Baptist Church, better known as the Shembe Church, said even if government imposed further restrictions, they would abide by them. Mthembu said they had an estimated membership of about 9 million.

“At the end of the day, people are dying and we can’t oppose the government when it is trying to help us.”

Rhema Family Church said that it would not disobey any laws, specifically regarding Covid-19 regulations.

“We will always respect what the government has put in place and abide by whatever the government has implemented,” pastor Ray McCauley said.

“Our priority is, and will remain, the safety of our congregation and curbing the spread of the virus.”

Epidemiologist Prof Salim Abdool Karim on Wednesday said the government should move SA to alert level two before the upcoming Easter holidays as a precautionary measure.

He said he was “deeply concerned” about gatherings across all religious groups.

Under alert level one, public gatherings — be they social, political or religious — are  restricted to 100 people for indoor gatherings and 250 for outdoor events.

His comments were backed by Prof Shabir Madhi, professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand.

“The third wave is expected to hit the country as we enter the winter period — about May or June, but if we allow for mass gatherings before that, for example over an Easter period, then the third wave may come much sooner.”