A Christian MP has shared her conviction that church buildings in England should not have been forced to close in November and should remain open if there is another lockdown.
Fiona Bruce stressed that she felt the decision to close church buildings for public worship was “a wrong call”.
Bruce is part of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which is currently assessing the impact of the two national lockdowns on people’s rights.
Lack of consultation
Bruce said that many churches had endured “a great deal of trouble to make their buildings Covid-secure” only to be “disappointed” by being told to close shortly after.
She added that many church leaders lamented the lack of “effective consultation” on the decision, whereas “there has been a lot of consultation with other organisations such as trade unions.”
The Christian MP added: “I have to say that whilst my general view is that the Government has had a very tough call to make overall during this pandemic, I have a lot of sympathy with the church leaders who believe that they could have been better consulted.”
‘Wrong call’
Bruce continued: “I wrote to the Prime Minister myself on 4th November at the beginning of the recent lockdown, to say that I would have preferred churches to have remained open, and that whilst I was supportive of the need for a restriction on our freedom, I felt that that was a wrong call and that the churches should remain open.”
The Congleton MP said the message not only from her, but from “two-dozen” other members of Parliament, was “if there’s another need for a very severe lockdown we want to see churches remaining open”.
She concluded: “there is nothing like gathering together to encourage and support one another in church”.
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