A “worship protest” is currently under investigation due to the lack of wearing masks and social distancing precautions.
On Sunday, Oct. 11, in Nashville, Tennessee, Sean Feucht led an estimated 10,000 people in a worship protest.
Feucht is a Christian musician who has supported and held anti-coronavirus-lockdown events around the country. This year, he ran for Congress as a Republican in California and lost. He performed at Public Square Park in Nashville, though he had not submitted an application.
“The event in Nashville, which was outside at Public Square Park, was not permitted, and no one had submitted an application for the concert, the Health Department said, adding that it will pursue ‘appropriate penalties against the organizer,’” NBC News reported.
The crowd did not follow CDC guidelines. Photos posted from the event showed many people within six feet of one another without masks, but some people distanced with masks.
“Dr. Alex Jahangir, leader of the city’s coronavirus task force, said the event held Sunday was the exact kind of gathering that could damage Nashville’s progress against the virus, which the mayor often describes as ‘fragile,’” The Tennessean reported on Oct. 12.
Jahangir said he was appalled by the event.
“Any time there are a lot of people together, without masks, I have concerns, and that holds true in this scenario,” Jahangir said according to The Tennessean. “From the pictures I saw online, good Lord, did you see people wearing masks? I didn’t. That is not helpful to our cause.”
To some, the event was a symbol of unity.
“The state of the world is crazy right now,” Makayla McKibben said in an interview with The Tennessean. “I believe the only way we’re going to see healing through this is Jesus. It was a picture of unity. Having an event like last night and making a stand as a church — people are going to see that. I want to be part of that.”
According to Father Thomas McKinzie of Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, the event felt like “a slap in the face.”
“For this guy to come into town and start what is potentially a superspreader event and do it in the name of Jesus and say he’s protesting so we can worship is foolishness,” McKenzie said in an interview with the Tennessean.
This event in Tennessee was one of the many events Feucht has planned. Since this event, Feucht hosted his Let Us Worship tour in Charleston, South Carolina, on Oct. 12; Kansas City, Missouri, on Oct. 17 and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 18. The next event is on Oct. 25 in Washington, D.C.
