Slowly, surely, US houses of worship emerge from lockdown

For the first time in two months, there was clapping, singing and fellowship inside Stithton Baptist Church in Radcliff, Kentucky, as members of the congregation returned to the sanctuary for Sunday morning services. There also were masks, hand sanitizer and social distancing.

On a weekend when President Donald Trump declared houses of worship essential and asked governors to reopen them, some congregants around the country headed for their places of worship with numerous precautions in place.

Those services in the U.S. followed a frantic two days in which at least one governor reached an agreement with religious leaders in Minnesota to ease restrictions on in-person services while a federal appeals court upheld another’s continuing shutdown of such services.

For Stithton Baptist, the reopening wasn’t about restrictions, Trump’s declaration or the release of guidelines by the federal Centers for Disease, Control and Prevention for reopening faith organizations.

On May 8, a federal court halted Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s temporary ban on mass gatherings from applying to in-person religious services, clearing the way for Sunday church services, with guidelines. Pastor Denver Copeland said his congregation has been meeting in the church parking lot for drive-in services since March 29 and hasn’t rushed back, even though his sanctuary space meets the 33% occupancy requirement. “We just weren’t ready,” the pastor said. They made their plans to hold in-person services three weeks ago.

Copeland said Friday’s CDC release of religious guidelines “made it all the more legit” for the timing of their return to in-church services. In a sanctuary which can legally accommodate 1,400, the normal Sunday attendance is 200. Sunday, every other pew was marked off to enforce social distancing and individual bags...