On Saturday, a group of protesters plan to appear outside New Hampshire’s State House for a third rally, this time to hold a public worship event as the latest demonstration against a sweeping stay at home order extended by Gov. Chris Sununu earlier this month.
Organized by “Reopen NH,” the group behind two rallies outside the Capitol in the last month, Saturday’s prayer rally has been staged as a protest of New Hampshire’s ban on gatherings of more than 10 people in the face of the coronavirus.
That limit has effectively closed in-person church services across the state for months. “Reopen NH” organizers argue those closures violate constitutional rights to religious expression, assembly and worship.
The group will hold a Christian service meant as “an appeal to God to intervene on our behalf as a free people as we work to peacefully restore our freedoms and eliminate fear.”
The rallies have attracted hundreds of people, some of whom wore masks and stood a safe distance away from others, some wore no masks and gathered in large crowds at the State House plaza.
They have also appealed to groups opposing various forms of perceived government overreach. Several men came wearing rifles and gas masks and held “Don’t Tread on Me” flags. One man handed out pamphlets titled “The Boogaloo and You,” citing a disdain for excessive public spending, over-incarceration, the militarization of the police, a biased mainstream media, and “uncontrolled illegal immigration.”
“This isn’t a movement that grew overnight, but rather the build up of decades of legislature, corruption, lies, and persecution that has forced people to declare that enough was enough and this is where the government overreach will end, and hopefully start to react,” the pamphlet states.
Under New Hampshire’s “Stay at Home” order, gatherings of 10 or more are banned, and both the Attorney General’s office and local law enforcement are empowered to enforce the order with arrests if deemed necessary. But the Concord Police Department and New Hampshire State Police have chosen not to take action against the “reopen” protests, which have taken place once every two weeks since April 18.
This time, focusing on religious freedom, rally organizers say Christians who ignore the state’s ban and continue to go to church and pray are be following Biblical teachings.
On the flipside, doing the opposite and staying away from church amounts to disobeying divine commandment, the Reopen NH group said.
“Some people are going along with the governor’s orders because they believe the Bible teaches obedience to government officials, but it is essential to point out that there are no examples of Jews or Christians in the Bible accepting the command of governors to disobey God’s commandments to worship Him, pray and assemble together,” said Andrew Maneuse, a former state representative from Derry who serves as chairman of Reopen NH.
He continued: “In fact, Moses, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Jesus, Peter and Paul, among so many others, directly disobeyed orders from governors to stop worshiping and praising God and teaching God’s Holy Word, and most of them paid for this with their lives.”
The group plans to stage a service, including prayers, Christian music, and “a sermon from one or more Christian pastors on our current predicament.”
On Wednesday, Gov. Chris Sununu pushed back at the constitutional concerns raised by the organizers, arguing that the 10-person gathering cap does not directly single out religious institutions.
“Look, we are in a public health emergency, and of course we have the ability to make sure that we’re creating guidelines and standards that maintain public health,” he said. “These are not permanent laws were putting into place. These are temporary as part of the emergency order.”
Sununu pointed to churches and other religious organizations that have held services in person of 10 people or less, and others that have done virtual services and programs. He praised church leaders that have “expressed an interest in getting it right and taking it slow.”
“We’re not telling people they can’t practice their religion,” he said. “We’re not telling people they can’t do anything other than making sure that what they have to stay within the guidelines of public health.”
But the governor did not directly criticize the organizers of Saturday’s event. “If folks want to come to the State House and and have a voice, you know, that’s a great process,” he said. “I have no problem with that at all.”
At least one Concord religious leader expressed disagreement with the rally.
“I don’t think we should be starting to assemble before there’s a vaccine or treatment,” said Rev. Kate Atkinson, of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. “Frustrating though it is.”
“And I completely agree with that frustration,” she added. “It’s more than frustrating. Beyond worship services, it’s a terribly stressful time.”
St. Paul’s is one of many churches forced to innovate during the pandemic. That means services recorded on YouTube, Zoom coffee hours, recorded music, and virtual children’s bedtime stores.
“Of course it’s not the same,” she said of the experience. “And one thing that we all miss is the sharing of communion, but we look forward to sharing communion again when we can be in person. For now most important is keeping our community safe.”
But Atkinson opposed the suggestion that worship needed to be done in person. She pointed to the Babylonian exile – the period after Jerusalem was invaded by the Babylonian empire and many Jews were held captive.
“God did amazing things during the exile,” Atkinson said. “God spoke in powerful ways. I think that’s happening now. There is a deeper meaning.”