Argentina pastor turns church into bar in protest at uneven coronavirus restrictions

An evangelical church in Argentina has reopened as a bar in protest against the lockdown on religious services that remains in place despite the gradual opening up of other activities around the country.

Bar tables were placed inside the church and pastors dressed as waiters carrying bibles on their trays in a mock service as part of call for religious services to be allowed during Argentina’s coronavirus lockdown.

“We are standing here today dressed like this, carrying a tray, because it seems this is the only way we can serve the word of God,” pastor Daniel Cattaneo, dressed as a waiter, said as he opened the “worship bar” at the Comunidad Redentor (Redeemer Community) evangelical church in the city of San Lorenzo, in Argentina’s central province of Santa Fe.

“So, apart from the breaded veal headed for table four, here goes the word of God from the house of the Lord to all nations.”

“We want to exercise our constitutional right to practice our faith,” Cattaneo told local media of Wednesday’s event. “Bars can open, shops can open, why are they discriminating against us?”

Although the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly in Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires and the surrounding area, the rest of the country remains relatively Covid-free.

The province of Santa Fe, where Cattaneo’s church is located, has been especially successful at containing the virus and has started reopening activities, including bars, but churches are still being allowed to receive a maximum 10 people per service.

Since Monday, bars and restaurants in Santa Fe have been allowed to open from 7am to 11pm, at up to 30% capacity and must keep a register of all clients in case any of them later tests positive.

Cattaneo is considering further alternatives to avoid the ban. A “drive-in worship” has been announced for Sunday in an open plot near the church. “At 3pm in the hectares behind the cemetery the faithful will assemble in their cars, to hear the word of the pastor,” tweeted Santa Fe journalist Pablo Gato Gavira on Friday.

A record high of 1,391 new cases was recorded in Argentina on Friday, all but 89 of them in Buenos Aires. There have been 28,764 cases and 785 deaths in Argentina so far.

Argentina has nonetheless been more successful in its fight against the virus than its neighbours Brazil and Chile, with nearly 830,000 cases and 161,000 cases respectively. Brazil now has the world’s second-highest Covid-19 death toll after a further 843 deaths pushed its total to 41,901, taking it past the UK.