Americans fight over everything else — why not add religious services to the list?

In the interest of fighting over just about any conceivable thing, even during a national pandemic, Americans are now arguing about the right to assemble together for religious services.

You need not be a religious zealot to recall something about religious freedom in the First Amendment, just the 10th word, in fact:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

True, that doesn’t say anything about governors, who from the earliest, scariest days of the coronavirus closed churches, restaurants, parks and numerous other public gathering places with lockdown orders to prevent the spread of the deadly invisible virus.

Nearly 180 countries made similar declarations. And that probably seemed reasonable to most in the panicked opening days of this plague back in March when ignorance and a media eager to attract news consumers made the illness — or rather, ignorance about the illness — more frightening than perhaps was warranted.

As a society, we’re still discovering new aspects of this disease that’s been evolving with its host bats for an estimated 10,000 years. But one thing that’s become evident to most Americans by now is that we’re not all going to die. Nor will the tragic death toll in the U.S. be anywhere near the 600,000 estimated to have perished in the Spanish flu pandemic of 1917-18.

Around 100,000 Americans have died so far. That’s considerably more than the modern record of 80,000 estimated flu deaths in 2017-18.

With some 39 million neighbors becoming newly unemployed in recent weeks, schools closed, normal living routines destroyed and the economy at a crawl, political pressures are mounting to begin reopening the economy. But what about churches?

Fellow citizens in shorts, flip-flops and maybe masks can wander through Walmart, which, like many such stores, is deemed an “essential service.” But in the eyes of government, sharing faith observances in-person with fellow believers, once a bedrock national assumption, is not. Instead, they were confined to virtual services in private.

Initially, the lockdown was sold as imperative to flatten the curve of COVID-19’s spread. Then, like the mission creep of some notorious modern military undertakings, a lockdown became essential to save lives. Which is something entirely different among humans, most of whom can deny death until the very last moment.

Then, the lockdown became a spreading struggle between government leaders, mainly Democrats, who were still drawing regular paychecks, and the unemployed, who weren’t but wanted to get back to work and faced another month without pay. The pressing needs of mid-March’s isolation no longer seem as compelling.

Here’s where religion makes its lockdown entrance. Surveys find religious adherence has been relatively steady in the U.S. in recent decades except among Catholics, whose adherence has drifted down, and Protestants, whose adherence has plunged from 69% in 1948 to 35% last year.

According to one 2019 survey, 29% of Americans never attend worship services, while 23% go every week. Those who go, however, happen to be heavily Republican.

The Pew Forum found 73% of Republicans professed belief in a certain God, compared to only 55% of Democrats. Sixty-one percent of Republicans say religion is very important in their life versus 47% of Democrats. Which helps explain the attempt at the 2012 Democratic convention to delete the word “God” from the platform.

It also helps explain why religion is usually so important in GOP campaigns. In 2016, for instance, eight-of-10 evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, a seldom churchgoer who has married three times. They’ve been a crucial part of Trump’s rock-solid base these past 185 tumultuous weeks.

A couple recent polls have reportedly uncovered a softening in that base since March, which concerns some GOP strategists. And likely also Trump, who hasn’t done much to broaden his base since the 2016 election.

That may help explain the president’s declaration Friday that places of worship are “essential.”

“The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important, essential places of faith to open right now for this weekend,” Trump said. “If they don’t do it, I will override the governors. In America, we need more prayer, not less.”

That surely sounds good to the base. Never mind that Trump has previously said governors are in charge of reopening their states. And he has no such override authority.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany acknowledged as much after her boss’ declaration. And Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus coordinator, told reporters, “Maybe they wait another week. But there is a way to social distance, like you are here, in places of worship.”

Religious leaders in several states, including Minnesota, North Carolina and 1,200 pastors in California, have threatened to hold in-person services in the coming days in defiance of their governors, all Democrats. Chicago is trying to fine churches that disobey its rules. In the face of threats, California could be easing its rigid stand.

One little-noticed fact these days is that this country is also undergoing a simultaneous epidemic of certitude. Much is not yet known about the COVID-19 virus. But everyone seems pretty certain that the fragments they have heard and have decided to believe are the ones that matter. Clearly, debate is pointless. Fighting ensues. Alas, there’s no known vaccine for that infection either.

The legal standing of these politicians may matter less in this partisan-soaked election year than the skewed political cosmetics of approving as “essential” such activities as shopping, pro wrestling and sandy sunbathing, which have no constitutional protections — but not religious assemblies, which do.

Regardless of authority, this is a good political fight for Trump to have. Perhaps you’ve noticed he’s not shy about such things.

This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Americans fight over everything else — why not add religious services to the list?."