By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Christian Council president Bishop Delton Fernander said it was surprising that a one-hour limit on religious services was implemented in the latest Emergency Powers Orders which took effect yesterday.

He, along with Hope Centre Pastor Carlos Reid, said the government cannot dictate what churches do.

The latest order says that in New Providence a worship service may be conducted daily for the maximum duration of one hour provided it is limited to 33 percent of the occupancy of the facility where it is being conducted.

Further it must be conducted in accordance with the protocols established by the BCC and approved by the Ministry of Health.

“We had dealt with the aspect of the one hour before. It is surprising that it came up again and we are hoping to settle this matter with the Office of the Prime Minister and back to the Christian council guideline as it was before,” Bishop Fernander told The Tribune.

The restriction is a part of a series of new measures announced on Friday at a Ministry of Health press conference as the country is facing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

Bishop Fernander explained he was informed a day before of the rule change by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis in a meeting

“This was an informative meeting where he would have received this report out of what I’ve said here’s what he had his mind to do, but the detail might have changed by the time he presents. So, we never reveal the contents of that conversation because by the time he presented it might change,” he said.

In response to the church capacity rule of 33 percent, Bishop Fernander said the church will try to come up with an allowance.

“Only the one hour part was not introduced by the church, but we came up with the entire protocol for the church,” he noted.

In the past, a proposed idea to combat the one-hour restriction was that churches would follow the protocols strictly, which Mr Fernander felt most were doing.

“Yes, I would guarantee we’ve been adhering to this, but as it is most times only the churches pointed out,” he said.

“We’ve had mass infections at government sites and whatnot, we don’t get the same coverage as it is if something is said to be a church event and so it bothers us as the church that it seemingly agenda that anytime it’s comes up. It’s being limited. It’s being coerced as trying to. It’s only going to get to a point where the church is going to make some strong stands.”

The BCC president insisted the state could not tell the church what to do.

“The state cannot dictate to the church, as it does other entities, and it isn’t even dictating to the other entities and so we wrestled with this. We came to (amicable) answer to this. We hope we can get it done again. It’s just surprising that this popped up again in the order.”

Pastor Carlos Reid agreed it was “ludicrous” for government to dictate services can only be held for an hour.

He said the measure made no sense.

“Dictating to the church that they can only stay open for an hour. You know what I mean, that’s ludicrous,” he argued.

“You can go into movie theatre for how long the movie the last. I’ve never watched a movie that only last for an hour. Don’t seem as if you’re anti-church. We understand that we’re all fighting a pandemic. We’re all fighting this disease that we can’t see. We understand that is contagious. We understand that we as a country need to do something, but when you make decisions, make the decisions make sense.”

“When we look at the Constitution, the constitution say a person should be free to worship up in their own style and whatever. The Constitution also states of emergency like the component authority the right to be able to make the decision. What we’re saying is that make the decisions make sense.

“The constitution also states that it can be seen that the decision that you making is prejudice and I believe this is one of the problems that most Bahamians have from COVID-19 status. This administration that makes decisions don’t make it where it seem like its fair for everyone concerned. When you have businesses that are shut down and other business are open it don’t make sense. It don’t seem fair. It seems prejudice,” Pastor Reid said.