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Justin Welby
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said communal worship ‘changes the world’. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said communal worship ‘changes the world’. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Church leaders expect easing of English lockdown ban on communal worship

This article is more than 3 years old

Remembrance events will be permitted outdoors this Sunday, but not church services

Christian leaders have said they expect the government to ease its ban on communal worship during lockdown in England as pressure mounts over church services on Remembrance Sunday.

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said on Friday that the ban on religious services would “probably change before too long”. He said the government had been “very good, they’re listening very carefully”, since faith leaders wrote to Boris Johnson this week challenging the ban.

Welby told Good Morning Britain that churches were safe places in the Covid pandemic. “People are well spread out, they’re wearing masks, they’re all registered. They’re really sensible about it.”

Congregations needed communal worship to “get the strength to serve and love their neighbours”, he said. Faith leaders were not looking for a “great big row” with the government but had said that “we disagree with you about the need to close churches. This is one of the things that holds people together. It gives them a real sense of purpose and changes the world. So, I think that’ll probably change before too long.”

On Thursday, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, said he thought the policy on communal worship would change. The rule was “not supported by any scientific evidence and clearly shows a misunderstanding of the importance of religious faith”, he told BBC Radio 4.

“I think it will be changed,” he said. “As soon as possible, I hope to see places of worship opened again [for public worship].”

Under the lockdown regulations, places of worship may remain open for private prayer, support activities, such as food banks, and to stream services, but not for communal worship.

The interfaith letter to Johnson was also signed by Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu leaders.

Traditionally, Church of England parishes hold services on Remembrance Sunday, which falls this weekend, to commemorate British servicemen and women who died in the two world wars and other conflicts.

Remembrance Sunday events held outdoors with social distancing in place will be permitted under the lockdown rules, but not church services.

The government’s guidelines note that Remembrance Sunday services are traditionally part of communal worship, but state: “From 5 November, places of worship are not permitted to open for communal worship. Celebrants may, however, enter places of worship to broadcast services to their communities and will be able to incorporate Remembrance services as part of this when they do.”

The C of E will broadcast a special online service for the nation at 9am on Sunday, in which the Act of Remembrance will be read and the Last Post played, followed by a two-minute silence and the sounding of the reveille.

Among those criticising the government’s restrictions was the former Conservative defence secretary Michael Fallon, who told the Telegraph: “It seems ridiculous. We trusted veterans to put their lives on the line for the country, but we cannot trust them to stand 2 metres apart in church.”

Alan West, a former first sea lord, said: “It is not beyond the wit of man to have them allowed into a church. I think this ban is extraordinary. It should be overturned. If you look at the average size of a church, there must be a way of letting veterans in with social distancing. It seems very silly to have them standing outside in the freezing cold. This puts them more at risk. They will die of pneumonia rather than Covid-19, and that doesn’t seem a very good way ahead at all.”

The former prime minister Theresa May told the Commons on Wednesday: “It [the church ban] has unintended consequences. The Covid-secure Remembrance service in Worcester cathedral is now going to be turned into a pre-recorded online service. Surely those men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom deserve better than this?”

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