Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mississippi Church That Met Despite Guidelines Burns To Ground In Suspected Arson Attack
The New York Times: Church That Defied Coronavirus Restrictions Is Burned To Ground
The burning of a church in northern Mississippi this week is being investigated as arson because of a spray-painted message at the scene that seemed to criticize the church’s defiance of coronavirus restrictions. First Pentecostal Church had sued the city of Holly Springs, Miss., which is about an hour southeast of Memphis, arguing that its stay-at-home order had violated the church’s right to free speech and interfered with its members’ ability to worship. (Bogel-Burroughs, 5/22)
The Associated Press: Mississippi Church Burns Down After Challenging Safer-At-Home Order
First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs, Mississippi, burned down Wednesday morning, news outlets reported. When investigators from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office got to the scene, they found graffiti in the church parking lot that read: “Bet you stay home now you hypokrites.” “We’ve kind of racked our brains and we have no idea,” Jerry Waldrop, the pastor of the church, said. “No enemies that we know of. We don’t know anyone that we even think could be capable of doing something like this.” (5/21)
ABC News: COVID-Related Arson Believed Cause Of Church Fire In Mississippi
The state allowed churches and other houses of worship to remain open as essential businesses, but faith leaders were asked to be more cautious as the coronavirus spread. (Pereira, 5/21)
The Washington Post: Catholics And Lutherans In Minnesota Plan To Buck Their State’s Governor And Reopen Churches May 26
Leaders of two of Minnesota’s largest faith groups are planning to resume indoor worship services next week in defiance of the governor’s order, saying it’s “extreme and prejudicial” to put religious gatherings in a reopening category similar to that of tattoo parlors or hair salons and subject them to limits stricter than those placed on retail stores. In a conference-call news conference Thursday, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Catholic leader for the state, and the Rev. Lucas Woodford, president of the Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, said they were fine with restrictions earlier in the pandemic. (Boorstein, 5/21)
