Easter Sunday might look a little different at churches in Florida.
Places of worship across the country will celebrate the paramount Christian holiday via livestream, connected only through internet fellowship. In Florida and a handful of other states, lenient stay-at-home orders may just mean parishioners will come together in-person.
Florida is one of a handful of states with stay-at-home orders that exempt places of worship during this growing coronavirus pandemic. Other states, like Michigan and New Mexico, have also allowed for that leeway. Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stay-at-home order superseded county and citywide orders that made it illegal to hold church services. The governor’s “safer-at-home” mandates describe church services as “essential,” so therefore excused from the otherwise strict rules on meeting.
That order in Hillsborough County led to the arrest of Rodney Howard-Browne, pastor at The River at Tampa Bay Church, on March 29. He was charged with unlawful assembly and violation of a public health emergency order.
He made headlines for holding two services at his megachurch that amassed hundreds of parishioners at a time when citizens were asked not to meet with more than 10 people.
According to Howard-Browne’s livestream of The River’s service late last month, there were several people sitting close to one another during the service, but he described his parishioners as “social distancing, or whatever.”“We are not a non-essential service,” Howard-Browne said during the service. “You’re probably going to get infected at some other place, not here.”
It's not clear whether a service will be held at his church on Easter. The church was closed on Palm Sunday, according to NBC News.
Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, an activist law firm that took up Howard-Browne's case, told NBC News the pastor "has not made a decision on what he plans to do on Easter Sunday."
"That decision will come later this week," he said.
Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office has continued to work to encourage the community to avoid such gatherings to curb the spread of the virus.
"We are continuing to try to educate the public as much as possible, but the decision to deem churches as nonessential and/or place a limit on their occupancy falls in the hands of Governor Ron DeSantis now," Crystal Clark, chief spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, said in an email. "Locally, we cannot prevent him from holding services at this time."
DeSantis is not the only state governor to keep the doors of religious institutions opened amid the virus outbreak. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Luhan Grisham have all given permission for churches to continue to gather, according to ABC News.
Some have come down on governors showing favoritism to those religious entities. Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of the nonprofit advocacy group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, told ABC News those state leaders are misinterpreting the concept of religious freedom of expression. Both secular and religious institutions should follow legal mandates like the stay-at-home orders, she said.
"The Constitution not only permits it, but demands it," she said in a statement. "Such restrictions do not violate religious freedom; they ensure religious freedom is not misused in ways that risk people’s lives."
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