'True Christians Do Not Mind Dying' Says US Pastor as He Continues Holding Services Despite Covid-19

Tony Spell, the Reverend of Life Tabernacle Church in Louisiana, who is now facing numerous misdemeanor charges after organising religious services despite stay-at-home orders, told TMZ that he would not feel that he has blood on his hands if people die from Covid-19 after attending one of his religious gatherings.

“Like any revolutionary, or like any zealot, or like any pure religious person, death looks to them like a welcome friend”, Spell said in a video interview. “True Christians do not mind dying. They fear living in fear”.

When asked whether he would then prefer people to come to his parish and get infected than stay at home and be fine, Spell reiterated that “people that can prefer tyranny over freedom do not deserve freedom”.

“People have been locked in their homes for 23 days now like prisoners”, the pastor said, noting that holding religious services online with the help of the zoom app was not a viable option for him.

In March, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards issued “stay-at-home” order to prevent the spread of the virus that has now taken lives of more than 650 people in his state alone. However, Spell did not believe that the restrictions should apply to communion with God and continued holding services in his parish in defiance of restrictions, which led to his arrest in the end of March.

The pastor was swiftly released from custody and on 5 April he organised a Palm Sunday service in his church that attracted over 1,000 perishers, some of whom reportedly came in packed buses. He is now facing at least six misdemeanor charges for violating state orders, which he earlier claimed was a result of “religious persecution”.

Spell is not the only pastor in the United States who has refused to follow quarantine orders, as some other religious figures across the state have also been reluctant to shut down religious services during the pandemic, including Florida-based pastor Rodney Howard-Browne.

This comes as Donald Trump reportedly sent at least 200 ventilators to Louisiana, where more than 17,000 coronavirus infections have been recorded so far. On 13 March, the spread of the coronavirus was declared a national emergency in the United States, and subsequent stay-at-home orders and restrictions on public gatherings have been issued across the country to limit the spread of the respiratory infection.