Coronavirus baptist dispute: Police draw up prosecution file after officers attend Sunday worship

The force said that its officers visited Tandragee Baptist on Sunday morning, having spoken to “a specific individual” (whom they did not name) in advance of the service.

In today’s edition of the News Letter, pastor David Patterson had set out in detail his stance on continuing to worship as a congregation.

“While there have been a few outbreaks of Covid due to churches meeting, no-one is put at risk by meeting to worship the Lord providing basic guidelines are met,” he said.

“Whether people decide to come to worship God is a matter for them before God”.

It is thought there were around 50 people at the church yesterday morning when the officers arrived.

One individual got in touch with the News Letter to claim the church had been “raided”.

This was put to the PSNI, which responded: “During this week, police became aware that a Church in Tandragee intended to hold church services, potentially in breach of the Health Protection Regulations.

“This week, we engaged with a representative from the Church and, on Friday, we had extensive engagement with a specific individual in relation to this.

“On [Sunday] police attended the Church where a number of people were spoken to.

“A file will now be prepared and forwarded to the Public Prosecution Service.”

Following the springtime / early summer lockdown, churches had been permitted to re-open.

But they were subsequently cited as being among the buildings which must shut for the wintertime two-week “circuit breaker”.

This new clampdown took effect from one minute past midnight on Friday, November 27, and ends this Friday.

The rules state: “Places of worship must close, except for funerals and weddings (limited to 25 people).

“Buildings may also open for individual acts of worship or for the recording or broadcasting of an act of worship.

“Drive-in services will be permitted for the two-week period (persons attending must remain in their vehicle).”

President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, Pastor Trevor Ramsey, said “it’s hard for churches to close down for public worship when they see off-licences open, for example”.

He stressed that individual baptist churches can operate autonomously, and that he would neither “condemn nor condone” the Tandragee congregation.

Someone had asked the church via Facebook about the feasibility of doing a “drive in” service instead.

The operator of the church account responded: “A drive in is not the church gathered for worship. It is a means by which the word maybe preached but corporate worship is much more than that.”

More on coronavirus:

Click here: Baptist Pastor explains why he opened his church for worship despite coronavirus restrictions

Click here: Counting cost of Covid curbs: 30,000 NI job losses by end of 2020 predicts top economist

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