By Jon King/jking@whmi.com


While the vast majority of churches and other houses of worship have curtailed in-person services during the pandemic, some have continued to meet, eliciting questions about how that’s possible with an executive order from Gov. Whitmer for residents to stay home to the maximum extent possible and only to venture out for essential needs, such as food, or if their jobs are considered part of the critical infrastructure.

In Livingston County, Bill Bolin, the pastor of the Floodgate Renewal Fellowship church on Old US-23 in Brighton Township, posted a message on his Facebook page explaining why he would continue to hold services. Bolin said while he believes COVID-19 is a real disease, he would continue to hold services at the church, saying he was open to hearing God say “shut it down” but instead he keeps hearing “be patient and stay the course.” He added that closing would actually be an easier decision and one that would serve him personally as he fits into several adverse medical risk categories, although he didn’t elaborate. But he concluded that the statistics reassure him he is not placing people in a high risk of catching COVID-19 with his decision as he says the chance of contracting the virus in Livingston County is 1 in .005% and the chance of dying is .001%.

When asked about the validity of that statement, Livingston County Health Department Director Dianne McCormick said there is a lot of information that is not known about the virus and it will be some time before scientists can provide accurate data. However, public health experts agree that the risk of infection is greatly increased through close contact among large groups of people. Lynn Sutfin with the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services said, “We believe whoever is doing this is simply dividing the number of confirmed cases by the county population. This would not be appropriate or an accurate representation of risk.” Livingston County Health Department Health Promotion Coordinator Natasha Radke said she had consulted with their regional epidemiologist. “We agreed that the number of confirmed cases (which relies on laboratory confirmation) among a population shouldn’t be extrapolated into risk or chance of contracting the virus (or death). That’s because our surveillance is skewed towards those who are tested, which is skewed to a very particular subset (e.g. those who are at greatest risk of developing severe outcomes, those who are at greatest risk of transmitting it to others, etc). This makes it difficult to know the true incidence of COVID-19 in our population, which is undoubtedly changing rapidly.”

Bolin also claimed not to be a “conspiracy theorist” but then went on to say he wasn’t sure “misguided politicians or globalists” wouldn’t use the pandemic to advance their causes.

As to Gov. Whitmer’s stay-at-home order, it technically does include churches in the prohibition against public gatherings, but instead exempts them from being penalized for it. When questioned about why the exemption was allowed, Whitmer’s Deputy Press Secretary Bobby Leddy issued the following statement to WHMI; “Governor Whitmer’s first priority is the health and safety of Michiganders. That’s why she took the unprecedented action to prohibit non-essential travel through her “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order.” Leddy then added, “While the vast majority of the state is staying home, Governor Whitmer is still discouraging people from gathering at all, including at places of religious worship. The “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order covers places of religious worship, but provides an exemption from the penalty due to separation of church and state and upon request from the legislature.” In a more succinct answer, Whitmer told Fox News Sunday host John Roberts, "The separation of church and state and the Republican legislature asked me to clarify that. That's an area we don't have the ability to directly enforce and control."

Despite Floodgate’s position, most other religious institutions have complied. The Lansing Diocese of the Catholic Church canceled public services and events on March 18th at all 73 of its parishes, including in Livingston County. Several churches, such at St. Patrick’s in Brighton, have instituted drive-thru confessions to try and follow social distancing protocols, while offering services streamed online.

Floodgate is also streaming its services, but Bolin said another reason he is continuing to hold in-person gatherings to address those members of his congregation who aren’t connected online. “We are following social distancing protocols and exercising care and caution as we exercise our rights to assemble peacefully as we exercise our right to worship freely.”