The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis said yesterday he has heard “the cries” of religious leaders and is now looking at how best to safely relax COVID-19 restrictions on churches for the safety of all.

“I’ve heard their cries and we’re now reviewing how we can do so and do so safely and protect both the church and their members,” Mr Davis said when asked if the government had planned to relax certain measures on churches.

He spoke after viewing the body of local religious leader Reverend Dr Timothy Stewart at Bethel Baptist Church yesterday morning. A state recognised funeral will be held for the religious leader today at the historic church on Meeting Street.

Reflecting on Rev Stewart’s legacy, Mr Davis described him as a “sterling example” to all Bahamians.

“His work to uplift the least amongst us has been notable,” Mr Davis said. “He achieved something that not many outside of the United States of America would have achieved by becoming president of the Baptist Progressive Movement, a feat that we don’t know will ever be achieved again and for that, we think of his life. It’s one that we need to uphold and uplift.”

Religious leaders have agitated for restrictions to be eased on church services, funerals, etc.

Earlier this week, Bahamas Christian Council president Bishop Delton Fernander told The Tribune many church groups have now ignored certain restrictions, which they feel do not make any sense, considering the fact political events and more recently swearing-in ceremonies have been held with only minimal constraints.

He also said the church leaders were eager to make their case to government officials in hopes of getting their concerns addressed.

“As we begin to request negotiation with the state, a number of things the council would be interested in communicating about: one is the restrictions for funerals,” Bishop Fernander said.

“We’d like to talk with the new team about it if that is what they are purporting, we are definitely against there being no indoor funerals or memorials like it is for church services because the same protocol that we have for the church services is the same protocol we can have for the funeral or memorial. We are awaiting that because the order still stands, and we need that resolved right away.

“We also want to talk about the length of service, the one-hour length of service. We would like that to be removed because churches should not be restricted singularly from any other entity in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas where protocols are in place and we have seen that we have had swearing-ins, national services for more than an hour with the same protocols that we use and came up with for the churches and it has been no contact tracing for those events and no clustering from those events so we know that they work and can keep us safe.”

In July, churches in New Providence and Grand Bahama were limited to a one-hour worship service daily with a maximum capacity of 33 percent.

It was also stated in July that funeral or cremation services would not be allowed but graveside services are permitted with a maximum of 30 people, excluding the officiant and funeral workers. No funeral repasts are permitted.

In August, The Nassau Guardian reported that multiple members of the Church of God either died or had to be hospitalised after it was believed they contracted the respiratory virus from attending a youth convention.

However, Bishop Fernander said church officials did not believe the event was to blame.