HAMBURG, N.Y. — One of the most vocal pushes for reopening has come from some religious leaders and members of congregations who feel the pandemic guidelines unfairly restrict them from worship.
Hundreds of people including over 70 pastors from around the state gathered Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Old Time Baptist Church in Hamburg. They were asserting their right to freedom of religion and they feel they can safely reopen their churches.
Technically church reopenings fall in the Phase Four, the last element of the state's reopening program. Some pastors in the past few months of the pandemic have chosen to use outdoor drive-in services in parking lots or online streaming for church members.
Last week the state did ease some guidelines to allow gatherings of ten people. Religious leaders and some politicians say they should be allowed to use houses of worship for service if they follow procedures from the CDC to protect against COVID-19. This also follows President Donald Trump's announcement last Friday that he wanted to see churches reopen and that the CDC had put out guidance.
Pastor Louis Guadagno of the Old Time Baptist Church addressed the crowd with some holding signs pressing for their Constitutional right to religious freedom.
"Today we exercise our right to peaceably assemble," Guadagno said. "Your right is protected by the first amendment. Today the press is here and the freedom of the press is guaranteed by the same First Amendment. The same amendment that gives every American the right to have church."
Pastor Tim Young of the Heritage Baptist Church in Palmyra, New York questioned the designation of church services in Phase Four or even later in the state's reopening plan.
"Then by seeing that we are not essential... in fact that churches didn't even show up initially until there was some clamoring concerning it.. and that's somewhere we were put along with entertainment and so forth," Young said. "But you can have live stream - that is not what church means - that is not what church is."
The pastors stressed that they do have adequate room within their churches to be able to ensure safety and social distancing.