Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 04122020 20240713

From stayathome orders . Here is how you join the conversation. In eastern and central time zones, the line is 202 7488000. In the mountain and pacific time zones, 202 7488001. And we welcome those of you who are religious leaders. Regardless of your denomination of faith, we would like to hear from you and how you have altered your gatherings and practices during the crisis. 202 7488002 is the line. If you want to text us, tell us where you are texting from, your name, 202 7488003. E are on twitter, cspanwj and facebook. Com cspan is how you post your thoughts. One of the states was kansas where the decision came down late yesterday from the Supreme Court. This is that reporting from the public Radio Station Kansas Supreme Court sides with governor preserving ban on large Church Services. Shegovernor wrote that holds powers to shut down large gatherings in the face of a Public Health crisis. The High Court Said public leaders lack the powers to reverse the limits on charging funeral services. That meant late last night, governor kellys order Banning Church gatherings of more than 10 remained in force. The ruling forced the justices to weigh in on an issue that tingles together politics, religion, and debate about the powers granted to a governor when a deadly pandemic strikes. In kentucky, in louisville, a headline judge allows drive in service at louisville church. Says the mayor of louisville, fischer a federal judge reboot mayor fischers call for churches to forgo drivein services, calling the move unconstitutional and overly broad. They write that, on holy thursday, and american mayor criminalized the celebration of in a temporary restraining order saturday. On Fire Christian Church in louisville sued the city friday, arguing the mayors direction on driving religious services violated Constitutional Rights and their religious liberty. Should religious gatherings be exempt from state stayathome orders . That is our question this morning. 202 7488000 is the line for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 mountain pacific. The president talked about the issue in the Daily Briefing friday. Here is what he said. [video clip] though we will not be able to gather together with one another as we normally would on easter, we can use this sacred time to focus on prayer, reflection, and growing in our purse no relationship with god our personal relationship with god. I pray to god to give strength to the doctors, nurses, and Health Care Workers to restore health to the sick and to renew every person who are suffering, our nation will come through like never before. Host your comments on facebook and twitter as well. A couple post on facebook. No, from donna that says, you cannot worship from home. Livestream if that is an option, but leading large gatherings of any kind is a public hazard. Jeffrey says accommodations must be made. Not everyone who wants to worship with others has social media access. People who can keep safe, personal distance from others should not be forbidden from congregating. Religious beliefs and practices are so precious. They deserve the highest respect and protection. Deadly andause this contagious virus checks as the other or not you have in excepted from the stayathome order from before infecting you. And bc on twitter says jesus would tell you that organized religion today is a scam and sham to get your cash. God needs no money. Only man does. God did not make covid19, man did. God will not cure it. Only man can. 202 7488000 for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 for those of you in the mountain and pacific. The lead story in the New York Times, the headlines as he could have seen what is coming, behind trumps failure on the virus. An examination reveals that the president was warned about the potential for the pandemic, but lack of planning and his faith in his own instinct led to a halting response. Any way you cut it, this will be bad, a Senior Advisor wrote on the night of january 28 in an email to a group of Public Health experts scattered around the government and universities. The projected size and outbreak already seems hard to believe. A week after the first coronavirus case had been identified in the United States and six long weeks before the president finally took aggressive action to confront the danger the nation was facing, and pandemic now forecast to take tens of thousands of american lives, the doctor was urging the upper ranks of the nations Public Health bureaucracy to wake up and prepare for the possibility of far more drastic action. Guys made fun of me screaming to close the schools, he wrote to the group, hich called itself red dawn based on an inside joke based on a movie. Hardlyes writes his was a lone voice. Throughout january, as mr. Trump repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and focused on an array of other figuresan array of inside his government identify the threat, sounded alarms, and made clear the need for aggressive action. Where you read that. First, we go to michael in new kensington, pennsylvania. Caller thank you for taking my call. Andy easter to everyone passover. I think it is a tough call. I can see why they did it, but i am not a fan of the isolation. I do not think there is a lot of proof that it works, the sheltering. Guess it is something we have to live with. Their churches i do not think they should have been exempt. Inth plays such a large role so many peoples lives, and it should play a large role. When they started talking about this flu bug and all of the bad news coming around about it and everything else, they said there is one thing that is missing. And i said they will finally talk about faith. And they did not. They talked about immunity and this and that in the other thing i think immunities are a key role. , thes angeles, the virus rise of the virus, was not as large as it was in other places, despite the fact that they have a lot of chinese there. That is their main port of entry, i think, california. And yet they did not have that large rise, and i think it is because of herd immunity. I wonder, if i keeping everyone away from this virus, if you do not actually make it easier to spread this virus in the end. If we get another wave of this virus, will anyone have any immunity at all . Host florence, kentucky. Caller how are you doing . For a number of years, i was on immunosuppressive therapy to fight crohns disease. Spleen removedmy complications, so i am very susceptible to this virus. A series of other things as well. Religious exemption i am sick and tired of hearing about religious exception. A church should be in the heart and not in the actual building. I do not need a building to go to church. But what you do, when you break these corn teaming rules, you threaten my life, and that is completely unacceptable. To me, that is no different than a drunk getting behind the wheel of a car and running into a school bus. Your reckless behavior then threatens my life. It is no different with those who are antibaxter antiv axxers either. Host thank you. We started the program showing scenes of st. Peters square, the vatican the pope tweeted late last night that we understand the service at the vatican has already streamed. He tweeted several times yesterday evening. Tonight, we acquire the fundamental right, the right to hope. It is a new and living hope that comes from god. It is not mere optimism. It is a gift from heaven that week couldnt have earned on our own. Our question this first hour asking you about religious gatherings. In many places, they have been banned. Should they be exempt from stayathome orders . We hear next from houston, texas, don. Caller good morning. The word of us is where two or three are gathered in my name. I think the issue of church, religious gatherings, has been the issue in america and across the world. Head. As come to a againstof the violence religious service right here in texas, where a guy killed over. 0 members of a congregation come to where we have to identify what is a gathering . What is the purpose of the gathering . Is it for propaganda or true religious freedom . An age of live in technology. Of ve many ways television, for instance. So i do not think that the physical gathering during a pandemic is necessary. Also itdemic spread across diseases. If we look at the pandemic of poverty, childrens poverty, i do not see the religious sect taking that issue on the pandemic of childrens poverty in america and the world. Against thends mandate of the right of all andzens to Public Health the pandemic of poverty, they are silent on that issue. But the issue of a pandemic of infectious disease, they are bold and bodacious, so i think they are hypocritical to their own doctrine. Host don in houston, texas. We are starting to see video from the vatican ill not sure if this is live. Im not sure if this is live. Media video vatican we are seeing. Our question for you should religious exact should religious gatherings be exempt from stayathome orders . Our next call is josh from redding, california. Caller good morning. We have to look at is this in a rational way, in possible,bvious way by allowing religion to override what the government does, by allowing religion to take over what they can and cannot do, whos to say when they stop . Idea of for the religion being sacred, religion being special, and having good preference, but when does this special preference say we cannot just do whatever we feel like doing . If you are religious, keep doing what you do, but do not let your religion put others at risk. Host by the way, thank you. We have set a sideline for religious leaders, 202 7488002. Tell us not just this sunday or this week how you are handling the closures during the coronavirus pandemic. A report in the Washington Post, published before that states Supreme Court in kansas issue their ruling. Their headline, kansas court ways in state order barring state gatherings. They write about the pastor of st. Lukes Lutheran Church in kansas city, kansas. He said his small church will continue to have inPerson Services this weekend, despite the health warnings, though the events will take ways in and outside space with handmade pews. His flock of about 25 will be Wearing Masks and use physical distancing during worship. His easter theme is about resurrection and the gift that the pandemic has given believers a chance to pause, reflect, and grow. As christians, we are people of body and soul. The essence of our faith is spiritual, but physical presence is essential. In my opinion, there is no substituting the presence of a christian brother or sister, even six feet away. We gather in body and spirit, not just. Several governors, including floridas governor, have classified religious services as an essential business in their states and have allowed such gatherings to continue despite stayathome orders statewide. But National Religious organizations, including the catholic church, the church of latterday saints, and jewish have suspendedps live worship in recent weeks. The governor of kansas, laura issuedbefore the court the ruling, was on cnn and said this about her executive order. [video clip] mywhen i originally issued First Executive order, my stayathome order, we did exempt churches. Everybody else was under this 10 , sociallyit distanced, and if it was enforced if there was enforcement, it would be a class a misdemeanor. What happened was we saw what happened in kentucky and louisiana around Church Service. Then we had four clusters here in the state of kansas and them that that have resulted from Church Gatherings. So i felt it important to make it clear that churches would be included in the limit of 10 with the social distancing. Ton i did that, i had talked all of our faith leaders all across the state, all denominations. All of them were on board with that. After the legislative coordinating council revoked my executive order, i then again talk to faith leaders. They were still supportive. We took this to the Supreme Court not so much because we want to argue with the legislative coordinating council on criminalization or noncriminalization, but the fact is, the coordinating council does not have the authority to revoke this order only the full legislator can legislature can do that. Kansashis recording ruled yesterday on the governors executive order, upholding that order of stayathome orders for applying to religious services there in the state of kansas. Gail in new york. Hi there. Caller hi. Happy easter. Host happy easter to you, too. Caller thank you. Last night, i watched services on tv from st. Patricks cathedral. I am a christian. But most religions, i think all religions, teach us that god wants us to be good to everybody and that our neighbor is very important. And the issue with Public Health, i think and i think god would want us to protect one another. So i am glad they are not excluded. I do not think anybody should congregate if it is going to make people sick. So i do not think they should be exempt, churches or other synagogues or whatever. God is everywhere. Host what is that experience like . You mentioned watching the service, the streaming. Have you been watching the regular sunday services there . Caller no, no. I am not a person that goes to church every day, but on holidays and holy days, i do that. What was it like . It was uplifting. It was not as good as being in a church, because it is important to be with other people. But it did the trick, you know . For oneime out to pray another is a good thing to do. It is not like this is exempting from by exempting us going the church and being with other people, it is not saying to us we cannot pray to god or that we cannot be good to other people. I think that is the biggest message, especially on Easter Sunday. Arizona. M phoenix, hi there. Caller thank you for taking my call. I am listening to these callers, and i am not sure what bible or what word of god you are reading. Thatible that i read says they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Thatible that i read says he was roost through my transgressions, and by his strides, i was healed, 2000 years ago. So for all these people, especially those governors and wants and sheriffs who to put an ad lib after the constitution, yesterday, there was a judge in the Western District of kentucky who issued a temporary restraining order against louisville, saying that you do not get to tell churches that they are not essential. How do you tell a church they are not essential . And who are you to tell the church that they are not used by officials . And the free exercise clause religious police are at times not logical or compensable an alcohol and if store is essential, then you Better Believe a church is going to be essential. If a walmart or home depot, who are not practicing social distancing when you walk into that store, if they are essential with over 100 or 200 people inside, you Better Believe a church is going to be essential. I encourage all of my christians, if you feel that your rights are being infringed, take yourself down to that federal courthouse and file your action against that governor or that sheriff or that mayor and get your rights back. Out and christian pointed the situation in louisville, the ruling of a federal judge in louisville on that. Here is the mayor, greg fischer, after that ruling came out. Among his tweets, i reluctantly but emphatically asked faith leaders to worship without holding in person or 99 ofn services the those houses of worship who have chosen to adhere to that have made the responsible choice. We hear from rich next. Caller a lot of good comments. It seems the line should be which way to save lives, and it is where that now that we cannot go to church on easter, we miss it, where before, we took it pretty much for granted. I hate to say that we had to go through this to really appreciate it more. It could be one of the odd benefits of this. The other thing is we have been through other crises before. When polio was going around, we had no idea what was causing it, and years, they were trying to solve it. Our thing happens, from one church school, they did a test to solve polio. It was the first time polio was tried on. Saul tried it on his family first and then in this one area in pittsburgh. In one generation, we are solving it. We should get onto the and the we shouldases go to the next one and the next one of the major diseases. Host next call. This is dusty. Caller i attend Services Every sunday. The building is not the church. The fellowship of people coming together to worship god in spirit and truth. Aw can i go to work 50 hours week, how can i go to walmart to buy essential foods for my skull body, and then sa my physical body and then say my spiritual body does not matter . Because when i am on my isthbed, people and bread not going to matter. The only thing i can depend on is the lord. We have a convocation of about 125 people. Aref them, 35, 40, attending. We tried to pack his social distancing. We do the things necessary to duty tried to keep people safe. But i cannot turn on the lord because the government tells me to turn on the lord. He is my refuge. I will continue to worship the lord in spirit and in truth. Host jim is next, st. Johns, michigan. It says you are a religious leader. Tell us about that. Caller i am an ordained minister. Ive stood at the pulpit before. Currently, i do not. My point of view is it does not really matter what the government tells us. We should look at what god tells us. He tells us to love everyone as we love ourselves. Way, can see that meaning that we should go risk our fellow parishioners, fellow believers, or even the unbelievers. Why should we do that . That is not what he would do. He would not want to risk the life of anyone. Wea religious community, need to say, hey, this is not ok. Toneed to find another way get together in smaller groups, to do it online, to do it however. That is where i think it needs to be. It does not matter what government says. We should be doing the right thing. Host so on this Easter Sunday, what are you doing . And typically where would you be in church on an Easter Sunday morning . Caller i would be in church on an Easter Sunday morning. Morning,aster sunday myself and my wife are going to take a walk and meditate and just enjoy all the beauty that the lord has given us in the midst of all the problems. Host appreciate you calling in this morning. We go to kansas next and hear from oakland park, don. Caller hi. I am a secular humanist, but i think it is good to stand up for the First Amendment. , getnk people can worship together at a building, and keep their social distance, and do what they got to do to keep safe. There are doctors and nurses who belong to these churches as well. They can advise them if they need advice. But the cdc guidelines are up everywhere on the internet. There is a church in Overland Park that has 2000 members and just spent tens of millions of dollars on a huge sanctuary. It seems to me like they can squeeze in a number of people and even go beyond the six foot minimum distance, keeping them 10 feet, 12 feet apart. It does not seem to me that the governor needs to hold every meeting to 10. Orderregardless of the from the Supreme Court last night, or what is your sense of the people in your neighborhood or your circle of friends and family, will they be attending an Actual Service or will they participate online somewhere . I know of, butat i have not asked some of them. My parents are pretty old, and injuringd be themselves quite a bit to venture out and take a chance at all, but i have some atheist friends that kind of look about it its darwins deal, you know, if theyre stupid enough im not that cold. I think there is a middle ground there somewhere. Host appreciate your call. We have half an hour left of your calls. Should religious gatherings be exempt from stayathome orders . 202 7488000 the line for eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001, mountain and pacific. If you are a religious leader, particularly if you have made other plans for your congregation or denomination, 202 7488002. This is the Washington Post, the online version of their frontpage story. After u. S. Surpasses italy for most confirmed coronavirus deaths, trump vows to bring our country back. It writes that the u. S. Passed italy for the most confirmed coronavirus debts. In a saturday night interview with fox news, trump shed little light on how he will decide when to reopen the country, saying the decision will be based on a lot of facts and a lot of instinct. Post,e, writes the pope francis presiding over an empty st. Peters basilica urged people to not yield to fear during the pandemic. Looking at some of the latest statistics. As reported by Johns Hopkins university in the worldwide figures on the coronavirus pandemic, 1. 7 million cases worldwide. Total deaths worldwide 109,000, almost 110,000. Million. S. , over half a with 20,608 deaths. They have a new column added in recent days, the total tested in the United States 2 million almost 2. 7 million. Again, the deaths in new york city up near 7000. Shreveport, louisiana. Welcome. Caller happy resurrection sunday, in the name of jesus. I am a christian, and i must say this one thing. God is everywhere. We must practice social distancing at this time. We are in a timeout pandemic. This is a serious crises. And god is in total control. I am a christian. I believe in the name of jesus. I believe that jesus is our healer. God is everywhere. He is not just in the building you are in on sunday. He is everywhere. , pleasestand this understand this that we must obey that the law is saying to practice social distancing. Gods ultimate law, do not misunderstand me. He does not want you not to obey the law that is set down in your country. He does not. If they are telling you to practice social distancing, please understand that is the best thing to do. What about saving lives . What about putting peoples lives in jeopardy . Do not put god in a box, because he is not in a box. God is everywhere. He is with you wherever you are. Host sylvia next up in alexandria, virginia. Caller hi there. Good morning. Happy easter. I am a Womens Division buddhist leader. S. G. I. R they told us not to meet for at least until the month of april. We have not yet in march and will not meet in april. One of the things we do is we do chant, so we are not able to chant with each other, so that it hard, but what we are trying to do is chant more. Chanting is like praying. And study the buddhist religion more. And call each other. Yesterday, we had a call and used zoom and called one another and had a little buddhist study meeting. Host how did that work out compared to being in person . Caller it is different. It is not the same. But it is encouraging. I think it made us all stop and realize that we are the ones that need to change what is going on. Because we have to take responsibility, especially in the buddhist faith. Whatever we are suffering, it is because of something in our lives that is what we believe. Sometimes, that is hard to deal with, but that is ok. We just keep going and try to figure out, through prayer and things ares it that the way they are at this time kate i know it is frustrating for people. You want to get together. But just like that lady before me was talking about, they believe that god is everywhere. Your happiness is everywhere. It is how you deal with this. How we turn this poison into medicine for ourselves, which is what we need to do right now. Is if the right thing for us to not be around one another until we can figure out how to change this disease that is going around, that is not a bad thing. Because our philosophy in life, whatever it is, should give us wisdom, and that is what we need in our lives right now. Wisdom to see how we can change this issue. Host appreciate your insight. Some comments on social media. Karen tweets religious gatherings should be top of the list foreclosures. People close together, sitting sidebyside, greeting each other if there is communion service, even more exposure. On facebook, sarah as i believe there are ways you can have faith and keep safe. Why cant the Church Service be online or at a big screen in a parking lot, people spread out . If pastors actually care about their parishioners, this would not even be a question. They would not have in Person Services when it risks everyones health and lives. Report, the rumback christ overcame death and the resurrection, we shall overcome the pandemic. I salute all the heroic Health Care Professionals putting their lives on the line to defend us. There is political news from alaska. The headline at the Anchorage Daily News biden beats sanders to win primary. Joe biden won the alaskan primary days after their sanders suspended his campaign. We hear from jared next in oakland, new york brooklyn, new york. Caller good morning. Happy passover. I believe there is that should be religious exemption. We have seen where police have overreacted to police playing in the streets by themselves. That said, i believe every synagogue and church should shut down completely. The fact is 99 are. As an orthodox jew, it is really hard for us not to pray three times a day, but all the rabbis have said shut down your and stayathome. Host in addition to the online seders that have been happening, has your convocation done online praying together . Caller not online praying, but my rabbi has been given, every night before sabbath, been giving a speech. This is not something we regularly do, online stuff. Our synagogues are shutting down, and that is what i think so them should do and are doing. Host thanks for your experience. We hear from susan next in california. Caller how are you . Host fine, thanks. Caller i believe that we should shut down, only because it is catching. Otherwise, from what ive heard the news, we have some overzealous authoritarian government overreaches. Starbucks is open. Walmart is open. Home depot is open. Dunkin donuts is open. All your Liquor Stores are open. The government did not take any time in telling us to shut down our churches. R. O. K. Tuary cities and they are letting prisoners out. You have to do some sense, and i cannot believe that that buddhist chants to a block of stone. Was the Vice President interviewed friday by david brody, the chief White House Correspondent for cbn who will join us in our next segment here. He asked the Vice President about religious practices during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. [video clip] even if you are not in a pew sunday, that ministry is still going on. To the extent that you are able to contribute to your local church, your local synagogue, ministry, we encourage you to do that, because those communities of faith are making such an immense difference. , iare so grateful that think, most communities of faith around the country have heated the president s coronavirus guidelines for america and avoided gatherings of more than 10. To those who would, as we go into this precious easter weekend you might think otherwise. I would remind our brothers in christ that, where two or more are gathered, there he is also. Host the Vice President s interview with david brody. David brody will be our guest in the next segment here on washington journal. Fromwing up that caller california, this is a tweet from pa. You can work, go to groceries, to the lumber yard, get the dog groomed at vet, dry family through a drivethrough, you can vote, but you cannot stand six feet apart at a church . Becky in pennsylvania. Caller good morning. Happy easter. To all the people concerned about Hardware Stores being open, you have to consider the fact that they have lifesustaining equipment and things there. I have a neighbor whose house caught on fire, and if they couldnt get to the Hardware Store and shore up the house, their house would be open to the elements. A friend of mine had her ceiling cave in because of water damage. What is she supposed to do . Not be able to get the stuff she needs from a Hardware Store . But as far as people going anywhere, especially to churches, you are putting other people at risk. First of all, the people you meet. But lets talk about the Health Care Workers and emergency responders. What if you are in a car accident on your way to church . You will add to that burden. I think i read or heard that 70 to 80 of car accidents, it is down that much why do we want to increase that for people going to church . Stayathome, watch it on tv, listen to it on the radio, watch it live streaming, whatever. Take care of it yourself at home. You do not need to be together in order to celebrate. Host what about those communities or individuals who do not have the ability to stream live, or at least effectively stream live, or participate in a religious gathering, as they would in person . Caller read the bible. I am sure, if they have been to church their whole life, they know the process. They should be able to have silent prayer. There is all kinds of way you can pray and show your love, and you do not have to be in a social gathering to do that. Host heres rita in new jersey. Caller good morning and happy easter and passover to everyone. First of all, i truly believe that god, at this time, is bringing down the church for its hypocrisy, the mega churches and our country. We care more about going to church and worshiping, but we did not care anything about trump kicking out the kurdish overseas in ukraine. He told them to go pound the sand and go toward the oil fields. It broke my heart. I cried like a baby when i saw him leave all those homeless christians out there when jesus taught us, when he came back, that the only thing we have to do is love god with all of our hearts, all our minds, and love our neighbor. The church has become hypocritical. It is a moneymaking machine. And let me tell you guys god is taking their money, and this is why we have this plague right now. You can go on any youtube and watch any minister in the world. I will watch adrian rogers. I want to hear a real minister this morning. , the popetch the pope john, that beautiful pope, who taught us about the lonely spirit. This is what we need today, instead of all this division and anger. God also taught us to respect authority. If they tell you not to gather, it is god wor gods word. It is in the bible. Host to joe in arlington, virginia. Caller good morning. How are you doing . Host fine, thanks. Caller i was thinking this is more of an agile, flexible decision based on that geography and location. I represent the majority of muslims in america, black american muslims. Ramadan is coming in about another two weeks or so. So as a consequence, i just have some few friends it is quite different than congregations doing easter in the church. Of might need a minimum three people there, so you can have it in your home. So i had our service in my home last friday. And we are going to have it this friday, about three or four people. Host would you typically during ramadan, would you typically try to go to your oral mosque for imam center wherever and pray with fellow members of that congregation . Caller yeah, most people will do that. But there is a lot of activity at home also. Kind of like 5050, 50 at home, 50 at the mosque. A lot of people cook and do a lot of Different Things in their homes as well. Of have an extreme amount activity at home during that time of ramadan as well. Ready much and adaptive religion. Host how are your small gatherings working out . Caller pretty good. Only three or four people. A lot of other muslims are praying and doing it from home. It works out for us pretty well, because we are very adaptable people, and we do not need a physical building, per se, to do our obligor up with the tory prayers. Host the president tweeting yesterday, retreating pastor Robert Jeffers saying i will be watching, have a great easter. We go to ed in titusville, florida. Caller good morning. Happy holidays. Would simply say that we would render unto caesar what caesar data that includes the right to protect People International in an emergency. You need to respect the right of the people. Host joes next in kent, washington jills next in kent, washington. Caller good morning. I do not believe religious gathering should be exempt. I do not believe it is gods intent to harm people. As someone said, it is hypocritical to think it is your in spite of the world being in the midst of a pandemic. Into think it is ok to basically dig the graves of another and to think it is ok to basically dig the graves of another, you could be digging the grave of yourself. Host thank you. Newsweek says americans eligible for the stimulus package have started seeing payments, the onetime payment from the treasury, arrived in their accounts, looking to ease pressure from the economic downturn. Ae chief executive officer of mobile banking startup said that a bunch of the first wave of payments from the cares are cap started to appear in their customers accounts. Datat sopp said currents indicates around 40 of the deposits so far were for 1200. This is barbara in new york, city in new york city. How are you doing . Caller how are you . Host fine. Caller several people have brought up that churches should be exempt. Exempt,r stores are staples is exempt, the banks are exempt, the Stock Exchange is still working, that i churches should be exempt then i think churches should be exempt. Solid rockpplaud church in ohio, Holding Service today. Pastor tony spell in Life Tabernacle church in baton rouge. The core mission of the church is to comfort the afflicted. Their job is to shepherd the flock in times when we are terrified, when we do not know where to turn or who to trust. Host what about arguments made from our caller, i think in pennsylvania, who said part of her issue is she is concerned the if people going to Church Service have some sort of accident or need assistance from emts or public officials, they would thereby put those folks in danger, potentially. What are your thoughts . Would ithat difference make if a person was driving on the highway and had an accident and they are already instant already symptomatically and emt would have to come to them on the highway . I am not sure what the issue is host i guess her point is that if the order is to stay at home other than critical, essential religioust having a service in person potentially puts more people on the road. Caller when people go to the liquor store, they also get on the road, so i do not think that issue is really substantial. And all of these people who call up and talk about their health, how their health is compromised and they would be at risk, it is up to them to stay home. It is not up to them to tell other people that they cannot go to church. They should look after their health and stay home. Host you are at the epicenter in new york city. How are things going . Noter quite honestly, i do see any pandemic here in new york city. Host you do not see it in new york city . Caller that is correct. I do not sick people. I do not see people lined up at the hospital. I just see a bunch of terrified people Walking Around in masks because of the fear mongering that the media does. Host what part of the city are you in . Caller manhattan. Host thanks for calling in. We will hear from sandra next in eastpointe, michigan. Caller hello. The first thing i wanted to say is, here in michigan, we were told not to go visit our unless we were one to be caregivers. That is how bad. And the wound the woman from new york who says she does not see illness, she is not in touch with reality. Thinkto say, i, myself, the pastors asking people to come to church are doing so more because they are more worried about getting money to pay the bills for the church than they are the people. Because people are dying. This is a serious, dangerous thing. I watched the pope this morning. I felt very comforted by that. Host on twitter, were cspanwj. Steve says i love attending worship, but during this crisis, surfaces are suspended. We cannot say we care about our fellow man and then risk infecting them. If you need a brickandmortar building for worship, you may want to reevaluate your spiritual life. This tweet says god may not be dead, but some of his celebrants. Be fairly soon if they unwisely congregate today. Bakersfield, i know what jesus would do this Easter Sunday stay home. May god protect us all, but use your godgiven intelligence and get a coronavirus blood test as soon as possible. Opinion piece from wade allen root. His headline mr. President , stop listening to the d. C. Swamp and ivy league eggheads. He said i am one of your biggest supporters. Praise you in speaking to my large and growing National Audience on radio and tv and through my nationally syndicated newspaper column. My audience loves and supports you. We have your back. Do you know who does not have your back . The ivy league eggheads, the washington, d. C. Small deli politicians and bureaucrats. No one elect the dr. Anthony found she elected dr. Deborah birx, Surgeon General room adams, or hapless Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell i either. Reason. Good being lovedly about by the media. This is billy in florence, south carolina. Caller how are you doing . Host fine. Caller i just want to make sure that i think the woman from new york is on the money. The lady from michigan, i think she is kind of in that fear mongering part. Here in south carolina, we have experienced little, if any. I think this year is just a bad in a bad flu season or pneumonia season, we do not close schools. You should go to church. Use your godgiven sense. If youre sick, stay home. If youre healthy, like you normally would be, go to church. I would just like to ask everybody, have we cured flu . Because flu numbers have dropped these last few months. I think they are getting mixed up in the count. I think we are getting with covid like symptoms in that number. Host thanks for your call. Robert is next. Caller good morning. Today, has gotten away from god. All the country has, absolutely. Three weeks ago today, i lost my older son to cancer. Right now, my faith is stronger in god than it has ever been. This country, people make fun of him look how he died. He did nothing wrong, and they crucified him. Tot is why they are trying do our president now, who is trying to help the people, but they are doing everything against him. The man cannot do anything right life andule over death. People cannot believe that, they are ruined. God says what he means and he does it. These People Better wake up and get back to god, because this country will be destroyed. Host to rochester, new york, fred. Caller thanks for taking my call. I am all for everybody that wants to go to a congregation. I think it is something you should be able to do right now. But you are peeping but you are putting peoples lives at risk. I pray. I love god. But at this point, if you want to go to your congregation, go for it. You should have to take up a mandatory quarantine for 14 days with your congregation if you want to do so. That is my, this morning. I love cspan. I love what you guys are doing. Thanks for your time. Host to texas, we hear from lisa. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I believe that we should abide by the laws. People perish for the lack of knowledge. If experts are telling us not to get together, we should not. The people are the church. We are the church. Where two or more are gathered in prayer, there he dwells. I think it is taking a risk that is not necessary, and a Good Shepherd should not try to lead to congregation and maybe jeopardize them. Twitter, cspanwj, lets start up this Easter Sunday, are you better off this Easter Sunday than you were last Easter Sunday while obama was president . The poke at myf local Episcopal Church can use zoom, why cant all the churches do the same thing, or is it really about the money . And bill says religious gatherings should not be exempt. Only here in the u. S. Can a Public Health issue be turned into a red stateblue state issue. A quick look at the front page story of the New York Times. Residents are sitting ducks. Overwrite that overall, 8600 deaths in new york and connecticut have been attributed to covid19 vice in saturn have been attributed to covid19 on saturday. The virus has been perhaps the coolest at Nursing Homes. Population,il understaffing, shortage of protection and constant physical contact between workers and residents has hastened the spread. In all nearly 2000 residents of Nursing Homes in the region have died in the outbreak and thousands of other residents are sick. Lets hear from francisco in glendale. Caller thank you for taking my call. I agree with the lady from new york. I am in arizona and we have not seen anybody sick. Not one name has been on the news. You think when babies are involved, they would interview their parents or something. As far as the religious gatherings being exempt, absolutely. I think people should still be able to do what they want because we need more evidence. This is just hearsay. It is a competition between the states, between how many people are stupid. That is what i think. Host we will continue the conversation in the next hour of washington journal. We will be joined for discussion on the role of faith and religion during the coronavirus pandemic. Politicaly, the chief analyst for the Christian Broadcast Network will join us and later sojourners magazine foundered reverend jim wallis will join us founder reverend jim wallis will join us. Television has changed since begin butce cspan our mission has not, to provide an unfiltered view of government. We have brought you primary coverage, the president ial impeachment process and now the federal response to the coronavirus. You can watch all of our Public Affairs programming on television, online or listen free on our cspan radio app. You can be part of the discussion on our daily Washington Journal Program or through our social media. Cspan, created by private industry, americas Cable Television companies and brought to you by your television provider. Tonight at 9 00 eastern on afterward, the netflix director of inclusion with her book, the fix. We are often in denial about the challenges women face at work. Assume america is a meritocracy, that everybody is treated the same way. People dont have different every and says of work and with that kind of logic, we are not only denying difference but we are denying inequality. Words at 9 00r eastern on book tv on cspan2. Washington journal continues. Host with us next is david he ise host of the also the chief political analyst for the christian broadcasting network. Thank you for being with us on this Easter Sunday morning. Guest thanks for having me. Host we spent our first hour asking our viewers about public gatherings and whether they should be exempt from the stayathome orders. What is your sense of how religious leaders across the spectrum are handling the challenge of getting a congregation together or keeping them apart . Guest it is a good question and it is a challenge to a degree but i want to do a disclaimer off the top that i think will cloak the whole conversation we have which is that most christians, most pastors, most by eitherre abiding the federal guidelines, state guidelines, what have you. The reality is, for most of the country, for most even silica christians or christians across this country, they are abiding by these rules. When we get to talking about certain cases, a certain handful of churches that had decided not to do that, but it has been a challenge, and i think more than that, how do you come up with creative ways to go ahead and hold church not just online, most people are turning online but whether they are be but whether there be drivein services. Thursday you drive through and pick up a cracker and wine or the grape juice and you open it on sunday during the online service. There are different ways people up duringg churched this difficult time. Host it does seem like governors and mayors will raise in his will raise an interesting constitutional question, about the governments ability to say to the disorganizations you cant or shouldnt meet in person or worstcase scenario you are subject to some sort of penalty. Guest that is exactly right. We have the contours of the argument, it is public versus religious freedom, two very important contours in this discussion. What do you do exactly . What we are seeing is a line. For the most part, you see christians and pass and even jessica leaders being ok with heating those guidelines and siding on the side of Public Health but when you start crossing the line and i think we sort it to see this popping up in the news whether it be down in mississippi where they are ticketing people in their car. Drivein cars in a Church Service, they are not entering the building. The cars themselves are six feet apart. The cars are social distancing and yet these folks are getting ticketed. We know what is going on in kentucky as well whether it is being whether it is a license plate being reported by authorities. Those license plates will then be reported to publichealth officials. You have church folks that if you go to a Church Parking lot, they write down your license plate number and you get a knock at the door by publichealth officials saying you need to be quarantined for 14 days. At that point we are starting to cross the line and that is where this debate is going and that is the big concern among even silica. Host we showed the interview with Vice President pence. When will that air and tell us more about what he said on the gatherings and his take on these Church Gatherings either online or in person . Guest a programming note, we have released a couple clips over the weekend and there is one just on the news because i host that podcast. That one is up as well. Then a full report on the interview on monday, the 700 club, check your local listings as they say. As for the interview with mike pence, he started by saying he has a lot of gratitude in his heart for the churches that have stepped up, so he is happy with that and i asked him what about these pastors that are in essence going rogue and he said his concern is that you can worship jesus anywhere. You dont have to be inside a church and that was basically his point. He is onto something that is very true. The last time i checked, jesus isnt in a church building, jesus can be online. You dont quarantine jesus. Jesus is everywhere. As you go throughout the day and i think that is what his point was that overall he has been very pleased with how churches are responding. One very interesting part of the conversation that has been controversial to some on the far left and the liberals as it relates to contribute into churches during this time, mike pence has made it very clear during the White House Task force briefing that people should donate to their places of worship whether they be churches or synagogues or monasteries because the Ministry Still goes on even if you are not in the building. Host our guest is david brody, chief political reporter for the Christian Broadcast Network. We will take your calls on the conversation. 202 7488000 is the line to call for folks in the eastern and central time zones. For those on the west coast, 202 7488001. You mentioned airing on the 700 club on monday. Tell us some of the other things you heard from the Vice President. Guest they were a couple interesting things. We talked about testing and i think it is going to be interesting to folks. I pushed him on this idea that there was a slow rollout and in essence, without admitting it, mike pence has a way of saying things without it coming across of ao bad but in terms slow process, he did talk about that, he talked about how there is bureaucratic red tape and they are changing the model and the system to these Rapid Testing systems and he believes they key was that instead of it just being with the cdc, it went into a more Public Private sector partnership, so i thought that was interesting. Income about male mailin voting as far as what democrats are pushing for in congress, whether or not that is political. I cannot reveal everything but those are a few things in the interview. Host the president reacted fairly strongly to a wall street journal editorial on thursday, editorial ran, the title was trumps wasted briefings, saying the president should not lead these briefings. Early on, the Vice President had led them. Did the Vice President indicate how he thought those briefings were going . Does he think they are helpful . Guest i talked to him about the media and how the media has been covering this. Interestingly i thought he would take a jab at the media he didnt. He said overall he thought the media was doing a relatively good job but he also realizes they will have questions and they have a role and a job to do as well, so he did not take the bait if you will, because hes got more pressing things on his hands. Host lets hear from callers. Bob in texas, you are on with david brody. Caller speaking of rogue wasors, years ago i listening to pastor dan cummings who is now frequently at the capital, he started in a cattle in texas. Anyway, just this morning i am reading his book, about 80 pages, it is the people, the preachers and the politicians, how one womans prayer changed the nation. It is free on amazon, like a the answert this is that hebrews used, the answer our founders used and it is the only answer that i think will do anything to help america. Right now i am in the hospital with a 97yearold mother who inadvertently got put in for covid which she toast which she tested totally negative for. We are praying for her and i sow jesus is the solution until we bound down until we bow down to our one lord and savior, we are toast. Host good luck to you and your mom. He is right. Jesus is the solution. What is interesting from a research perspective, more than half of all americans are praying more than they ever have before. They are praying for an end to the coronavirus pandemic and what is interesting is that if you go inside those numbers, about 36 of people that call themselves religious, none, they dont have a religion, they are even praying. It goes on from there. Prayer is a good thing and when folks that dont even believe, whether it be jesus or any of that, they are praying, that is something that is a positive development for sure. Host henry in michigan. Hello there. Caller good morning. Like mr. Brodys help in trying to resolve an inner conflict. As a liberal, i am well instructed in the bible and in disbelief and in religious belief. In my upbringing i have always been taught that god will not be mocked. America hasat elected satan and satan is in the white house. You interviewed one of his demons yesterday. If i am to be reunited with my country, my country has to be reunited and instructed by the goodwill of jesus christ and his social ministry and i dont believe we are following that now. I think this president has mocked god and that is why we are where we are today. I have no hope of being reunited with my country and with my fellow countrymen if they continue if they continue to follow satan. How am i supposed to resolve that conflict within myself when i have been raised to hate people to hate people and to hate to hate evil and to hate the people that love evil . Guest it is a great question. I dont even know where to begin. There is so much to unpack. You have one view of it and there are a lot of folks who have a different view and believe that donald trump is in office for such a time as this from a biblical perspective. We believe that debate for another day we will leave that debate for another day. Is, ifth of the matter you come out of a biblical conservative perspective, this president is the most prolife president in history. Many things he has done from a conservative biblical perspective and a word from god perspective, he has been very positive. You will of course counter with the fact that the social justice aspect of all of this, but there are a lot of things he has done in that area. A lot of times, and i think both sides are guilty of this, you have the conservative even to liquids on one side talking about concentrating on certain issues with a cut with a biblical context and you have liberals talking about social justice aspects, but the last time i checked, jesus wasnt all about social justice, he was about coming to this earth, dying for our sins and giving everyone a chance to be with him for eternity. That is what the common bond should be on both sides. Host our guest is david brody, chief political analyst of cbn. Our next guest, our next caller, go ahead. You are on the air. Caller the church should be allowed to go to church and congregate. [indiscernible] when you get sick, you go to jesus and pray. Why wouldnt they let people go and pray . Host we kind of touched on that earlier. We will go to oklahoma. Jerry is on the line. Caller good morning. Happy easter gentlemen. I think the distinction needs to be made between pastors who are shepherds of the flock and religion because personally i am hearing a lot of talking between butanne williamson and etc. Christianity and i am a christian, i believe we see too many puppeteers and not enough pastors. Together,meeting pastors can exercise their buildingutside of the church ink the revelation was a perfect example. Thank you for your time. Host david brody . Guest first of all, we have to remember most churches are following these guidelines. I dont want to say it isnt an issue but for the most part it hasnt been. We know in places like tampa, the pastor there has physically gone against authority. He has now gone online. In places like ohio and down in louisiana, especially white tabernacle was Holding Church sunday services and brought 2000 people attending. It is happening but it is in pockets and that is important to point out. The ones that are having church, and once again i am not defending People Holding these services, im just explaining from a factual standpoint, they are still doing social distancing guidelines. Some churches removed some of the pews, move them to the side and kept families six feet apart. I am not saying that is the way to go but there are certain precautions they are taking and that is part of their defense. Host your interview with the Vice President done on thursday, you tweeted some photos about that and i wanted to show one of those. You say in this tweet, i was tested for covid19 today because i was doing a oneonone interview with the Vice President and the test was negative. Did you have to take that test in order to get the interview . Guest i am glad you brought that up because i did want to bring it up. I was tested and it was negative. Here is what happened. We thought we were all going to get temperature checks going in and we did but then we are in the room and this took place in the Old Executive Office building, the ceremonial office and the interview was going to start late morning and about an hour before that i was told very nicely we are going to need to give you one of those rapid covid19 tests. Myself and the woman that was going to apply makeup to the Vice President. That is exactly what happened. We both went down there about an hour before the interview. It took about 10 seconds. These rapid tests are nothing at all. Graphic,d be a little it is five seconds up one nostril, five seconds up another and your eyes are watery little bit and that is it. They said they would only contact me if it came back positive and an hour later nobody contacted me and the Vice President walked in and i figured we were good. Host during that hour were you a little bit on pins and needles . Guest i was a little concerned. As you know in journalism we always have a plan b and quite frankly we have a plan c and we were already in plan b territory with the producer who was getting ready to ask those questions that i had ready for the Vice President just in case. Host we go to illinois. Lawrence, go ahead. Caller good morning. To hopefullynt give some solace to practicing christians locked at home. Most christians understand the significance of the resurrection but what led up to it is also important. Christ dying in his crucifixion and the reason he was crucified was because he came to earth and told the congregation i am the sacrificial lamb, you dont need to go through religious leaders because prayer to christ, everybody had prior to christ, everybody had to go to their religious leader to do the sacrifice and christ said you can talk directly to god through me. He ripped open the tabernacle, that is what happened. People at home can administer to themselves. They dont need to go to a pastor or priest to tell their sins. They can call directly to god through christ and receive the body of christ, the communion and administer to themselves and receive it in christs name. People forget that. It is one of the reasons why christ was crucified. Many of the religious leaders were frightened they were losing control and power. Christ did that all through his life. That is why he took a bullwhip to the temple. I dont want to make it to political, but he was pointing out a lot of fake news of the day. Host david brody, any thoughts . Guest i like how we turned it into a fake news story. He is absolutely right. There is the sermon of the morning and beyond that what is important is to understand that what he said is true which is you dont have to necessarily be in a church to worship god. Is there a Community Aspect to it . Yes, is church important, of course. That is a lot of what people are missing, the Community Aspect to all of this but the main point is correct and this is something that a lot of people dont quite get which is christianity is called a religion but a relationship with god is not a religion. A relationship with jesus is a personal relationship. Aere is a difference between relationship with church and a personal relationship with jesus. People get hung up on the relationship with religion. Host his comments reminded me we need to get some politics into this conversation. We read this story earlier about joe biden, winning the alaskan primary with 20,000 voters in that state. The lay of the land in terms of the president ial race, the Convention Already moved for democrats into august. How do you see things and focusing in particular on the democratic side, how do you see things moving forward . Guest i think joe biden has a big challenge on his hands and it doesnt necessarily have anything to do with donald trump, it has to do with Democratic Politics internally. He has to get the bernie folks to the polls. Theyve got to be energized. It is all about energy and momentum and all of that energizing debates. The Democratic Party has to figure out they have a lot of people angry at trump but if you are angry and sitting at home, that is one thing. You have to be angry to get to the polls. The millenials and the bernie people out there are not too jazzed. How does he engage them and get them to the polls . The answer would be to embrace some of what bernie has been talking about and move the platform to the left and that is the problem. If you want to play to what the general election, you better go to the middle. What is biting going to do . Is he going to go to the left or does he go to the middle and go bluecollar rust belt and try to win those folks . He needs both but if you are here and dont know which way to go or you are trying to thread the needle, that is difficult and it will be pointed out by the Trump Campaign as we move toward november. Host the problem for the former Vice President in that he has no podium, no pulpit. Whatever you think of the Daily Briefings, the president is out there every day and perhaps some people these substitute for his rallies. He is there every day by the nature of the pandemic, the Vice President does not have that platform. Guest he doesnt and it is a real problem. Even when he tried to go virtual and read off prompter, you might remember, the prompter speech from his library or wherever it was, and he still messed up. Machined himself a gaff and he talked about calling out the National Guard at about 20 seconds later he said we should call out the National Guard. In other words, he was all over the place. He has a gaff problem for sure. I will say for the president , he has his work cut out for him. We are going to go into june, thisand august, if not situation, kind of a modified quarantined situation, what does he do for his rallies . On those daily Coronavirus Task force briefings but his biggest pulpit of all are those rallies and right now that weapon has been taken away from him. Host a couple more calls. California, robert on the line. Caller yes sir. Good morning guys. I just wanted to say that i am a christian, kind of a devout christian. I went on the road for jesus for a year to search out his faith and his trust. I want to say this. Ande dont get on our knees return to our first love, then we are missing the mark. That is what all this is. He wants us to return to him. Do is picture a man hanging on the cross dying for you. He died for you. He will always be proved. All you have to do is picture that man this morning. If you are struggling to find him and find the love for him, he hung there for you, personally for you. But i wanted to say to everyone who is listening, you need to return to your love, get on your knees, cry out to god this morning. Bernie david brody, you wrote a book a couple years ago talking about the faith of donald trump. The president tweeted that he would be watching the Robert Jeffers service online. Are we hearing from the president in these recent days of some thoughts on religion, some of his religious beliefs in terms of how he is addressing the coronavirus . Guest we are but it is not done in a traditional way. Nothing with donald trump is traditional and that is what the book explains and goes into. He is not going to say it, forget a pastor but your normal even jelly coal having a brunch and cracker a brunch at Cracker Barrel after service, that is not him. He is going to say get his way but the truth of the matter is he has in essence ushered in a whole bunch of even to little christianity type policies from a conservative perspective and he is seeking out prayer in the white house. It is a store that does not get told much. Donald trump is part of the reason why this happened. Donald trump is the law and order guy, the tough guy, he is control and that is what he wants to project. Behind the scenes it is much different. He is much more compassionate behind the scenes. He is seeking out prayer behind the scenes and inviting people in who want to pray with him and more importantly pray for our country and for guidance. A lot of that doesnt get told as much but it is happening and it is interesting because normally politicians want to do the exact opposite. They want to kiss the baby in public and show the softer side. Donald trump doesnt want you to see that. But he does have a softer side, you are just not seeing it. In response to the last caller about prayer, he is absolutely right. We do as a country need to get down on our knees. From a Google Analytics standpoint, this past march the search term prayer was searched more often this march than it has been in the last five years. Clearly people are turning to prayer whether it be searching for it or doing it more often but that is a good thing and is something we should remember. Host here is isabel in missouri. Caller good morning. If you got the sense that they were going to fix the issue of ticketing the people in the drive up service. We have a church with a Pastor Service anddrivein we downsized on our worship team. We do zoom for our sunday school classes. Threat inhat a missouri . Is your governor threatening to ticket people . Caller he is not. We do everything in compliance, what we are supposed to do but upon hearing the news of other states doing this, i feel like that is and infringe on the religious side of that like they should not be doing that and i really feel that that is a president ial thing, that as a government they should step in and go that is on the freedom of religion. They are not being next to someone, they are not threatening someone. It is no different than going to mcdonalds or whatever as far as socializing. Host what time is your service this morning . Caller 10 45. Host thanks for calling in and happy easter. Guest i think isabel is onto something very important. Lets start with this. In terms of my interview with the Vice President , we were talking specifically about pastors Holding Church inside, in the pews. We did not get into drivein services. Having said that, we know the department of justice is going to be coming out this week with we believe some sort of guidelines. It is going to address exactly what isabel is talking about, this sense of what is protected and what is not protected under the First Amendment when it comes to what is going on right now. Expect that guidance to come out this week and win that guidance comes up, you can be sure the president in the Vice President have a lot to say about it. Isabel makes an interesting point, this is part of the concern among even . Christians which is if you are going to go to parking lots and start taking down license plates or giving people tickets are ,eing in a Church Parking lot hold on for a moment. Why are we not going to mcdonalds anja polian a lot of other places where there are drivethroughs mcdonalds otheripotle and a lot of places where there are drivethroughs . That is part of the issue here. Is church essential or nonessential . That gets into a whole lot of issues as it relates to religious exemptions. We can talk about that some other time. Host david brody, chief political analyst for the Christian Broadcast Network. Look for his interview with Vice President mike pence online and coming up this week. Thank you for joining us. Guest a pleasure, thank you. Host up next, more on the role of faith and religion and how they are playing out amid the coronavirus pandemic. We will be joined by sojourners founder reverend jim wallis. Later we are joined by feeding america cheaper sick of officer cheat she picked ticket of officer Claire Babineauxfontenot chief executive officer Claire Babineauxfontenot. And nothing a new executive order for all new Jersey Transit and private carriers announcing a new executive order for all new Jersey Transit and private carriers. I am announcing a new step filling up on the step we announced thursday to help slow the coronavirus. Today i am signing an executive order directing all private carriers to cut the capacity on all trains, buses, light rail vehicles and paratransit vehicles to 50 of their maximum. The order for the requires nj transit and private carriers to supply their workers with gloves and Face Coverings. The order also requires all whens to wear face covers traveling on nj transit or with a private carrier whether it be by bus, train, light rail or paratransit vehicle unless they cannot for medical reasons. Many of ouror essential workers, Public Transit is how they get to work and we need to protect them during that trip. Nj transit will put out guidance specifically on these on this executive order so that we have a rational execution of this order. There is going to be a lot of discretion left up to our drivers. Part of the same addition part of the same executive order, expending the requirement to wear a Face Covering to all customers heading into restaurants and bars that remain in operation as they get their takeout orders. If you are not walking into an establishment, if you are doing curbside or your order is being delivered, a Face Covering will not be required. We will require that restaurants and bars give Face Coverings and gloves to all their food servers personnel. All of this is effective monday evening at 8 00 p. M. Repeating, a face mean a medicalot grade mask. We need to keep those for our frontline Public Health and safety responders and they remain in short supply. There are any number of ways you can cover your mouth and nose with a bandana or homemade fabric covering. You mayor some of you view this as another inconvenience, remembering to bring your Face Covering to the supermarket or to pick up your takeout order may be a hassle but you know what would be really inconvenient is if you ended up in the hospital with covid19 or you inadvertently infected a Family Member may be of an older generation with the virus unwittingly. If you did that just because you didnt take to heart the need for us the need for us to take every precaution and continue working together. We accept this is inconvenient and we accept the level of exciting and we except we all want to be outside doing as we would normally be doing. Here is the problem. If we do any or all of the above, we blow our chances of flattening this curve. You probably put yourself or your Family Members at risk and i can promise you we put our Health System at risk. We cannot do that. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This will have been worth it. I know we are going through hell but we will get through this together. Washington journal continues. Host here on washington journal we look forward to talking to reverend jim wallis shortly. We will put up the phone lines to hear from you. 202 7488000 for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. We are working on our connection to reverend jim wallis. We started the program with the situation in kansas over the governors order. Headline, the order limiting kansas Church Service stands, justice rules just hours before easter. They write in the story that the order on Easter Services and limiting those gatherings on Easter Sunday would stand. The Republican Leadership in the legislature in kansas had overturned that, had blocked that executive order and now the Supreme Court in kansas, staying the order, keeping the governors order on track. From the Washington Post this morning, there headline on the covid19 u. S. Deaths topping 20,000, exceeding the total in italy. Confirmed ineaths the United States top 20,000 on saturday, a the total in italy, the worlds hardest hit country as state and local leaders in new york sparked a decision to close the Largest School system for the rest of the Academic Year and almost the entire country came under a federal disaster declaration. It was an ominous start to a Holiday Weekend in which President Trump said he once hoped to reopen the country but a sign that the pandemics most painful phase is far from over. With the approval of a disaster declaration in wyoming in the report of 1879 new deaths nationally, the United States reached two grim milestone saturday. All 50 states are in a state of emergency and the u. S. Outbreak is the deadliest in the world. The post writes that italy with a population of 60 million still has lost more people per capita, roughly 31 of every 100,000 people have been killed by the virus. In the United States, roughly six out of every 100,000 people have been killed by the virus. Our phone lines are open. 202 7488000 for those of you on the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001, mountain and pacific. In tennessee, lets hear from robin. Caller hello. I would like the reverend to inform these even telik was about what god said about a liar. There were only six things that god hates and a liar is one of them. I want to know how they justify following and worshiping donald trump when he is nothing but a straight up liar. To be a liar means you will be seen and it means you will steal. There is nothing about this man that says anything about christianity because he is one of the things that god hates. Host we welcome to the program this morning, reverend jim wallis the founder of sojourners. He is there president and founder he is their president and founder. Happy easter. Guest happy easter to you. Host tell us your thoughts this morning. What would be your typical Easter Sunday tradition and what are you doing this Easter Sunday . Guest easter is the proclamation, the conviction of despair and life over death. ,ven now in the midst of all easter was never a time to go back to normal. Churches, to start the economy, it is a Public Health letsssness but easter is make this new. The first time i ever remembered we are backing the scientists, the doctors and doing the physical distancing which is necessary to save lives. Here we are. Says where two or three are gathered together, their mi. There is a promise. Virtually anding we will probably feel closer than ever to our fellow parishioners all over the world. We are learning in the churches how to worship virtually, how to love, how to care for each other virtually in this pandemic time. One of our roles is to back the scientists and doctors. Consistent with christ to infect your neighbors, so we will heal the nation by saying physically distance but standing apart but never being alone. That is the solidarity we need. Host we have had a number of callers and i want to get your thoughts, what do you say to people who have called us and said we see attending a Church Service as an essential service and if people have the ability to go to a liquor store or a drivethrough, fast food restaurants, why are churches or other religious organizations prohibited from having people in distanting, socially safe gathering of some sort . Guest this is about Public Health. Gathering together in a big building is the way to infect your neighbors. This isnt about religious liberty, it is about Public Health. Terribly infectious disease. You dont love your neighbor by infecting your neighborhoods. We are doing that together all over the country and we are feeling often closer than ever before. This remarkable easter because we have also learned, it is almost like good friday. Good friday there was a powerful image of christ on the cross with his hands nailed to the saying to all the suffering of the coronavirus, i cant stop your suffering but i am with you in it. Christs handsy are outstretched and says all we have seen revealed by the coronavirus, all of these inequities, all of these things that are wrong, racism and poverty, being revealed as preconditions for getting this disease and dying of it because of how people are made to live and yet now in this day, jesus says come to me, i can make all things. I can make all things new. Come join me and lets fix this. But we will respect Public Health and we will be the healing spirit of christ in the world, making things new. This virus has revealed things are bad and wrong and much and must no longer be acceptable. Sermon before heading into jerusalem. Sick, i was, i was in prison and where were you . As you treat the least of these, that is how we treat him. We both aren, where today, the least of these are the least important. Host i want to follow on that and one of your comments, one of your writings. Reverend jim wallis is overcast, the founder of sojourners. His articles at sojo. Net. One of his articles, you wrote this. Two scriptures come to mind for me in the last week. Sayss if fusee ends which lovell redeem the time for the days are evil realizing there are people dying, dying alone makes her very evil days but i also think the days that preceded the unexpected onslaught of the killer virus were also people. They have become days of untruthfulness, the acceleration of racial bigotry, the promotion of fear, hate and violence, the political targeting of those jesus tells to protect, those on the margin. Biblical perhaps implication of the coronavirus . Guest it is interesting. I wrote that before the coronavirus but the pandemic has shown these things, it has revealed these things. That thingsws now like poverty and racism are preconditions because of peoples lack of access to health care, to safe housing, anywhere to physically distance, reliable incomes. All of that makes them more prone to get sick and die. I think on this easter, more than ever, we want to proclaim jesus, thellowers of least of these are the most important. , wee come out of easter want to learn those things that this virus has shown us are wrong and have to be changed and then change them together as jesus says. Let us make all things new. Host you are probably hearing a lot of this conversation, the headline that usa today, is the coronavirus an act of god . Faith Leaders Debate top questions amid the pandemic. One of those responding is a rabbi who said people want to make meaning in a time of fear, uncertainty and suffering. That is understandable and natural but passover is coming up so people are making those comparisons. I do not think god is smiting us. My theology does not involve a man in the sky with a pair of dice saying it is smite the people time. What do you think of his comments . Guest i think they are right. I think that image of christ on the cross over the coronavirus suffering saying i cannot stop your suffering but i am with you in it, that is what the cross says, with us in the suffering and now two days later, we believe this resurrected christ is saying that hope can triumph over despair, life over death. We have to believe. Believing it makes us change. How do we see that and how do we act, that life will triumph over death and how do we protect those whom this virus has revealed are so vulnerable . Protecting the vulnerable, focusing our attention on the vulnerable is the vocation of the faith and we are doing that all over the country. We are learning how to take care of people and we are saying to our political leaders that you have to protect those who are most in jeopardy. Hungry people, people who dont have health care. Isnt it interesting now how we see that everyone having health care, universal health care would be the best thing for the common good of all of us . And for the Common Health of all of us . If people had steady incomes, that would make us more economically stable, all of us. We have to ask what is best for the common good and the Common Health and this virus can teach us things if we have the ears to hear and the eyes to see. Host comments to comments and calls to reverend jim wallis. 202 7488000 for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 for those of you in the mountain and pacific. Caller i will make my comment very short and to the point. I am not a longwinded preacher. Romans 13 point romans 13 1, b in subject in subjection to the superior authorities. It is gods own words and we should follow the government says and that should and all of these conversations. I thank you very much. Over i see governors all the country and mayors, responsible for the people, saying indeed physical distancing, staying away from each other right now is the only way to heal this nation and save lives. I want to see us doing that. I agree with you entirely. That is what we should be doing. I think they are looking to us for that, to protect each other. I dont want to see people infected in Church Services or funerals. This is a time of social distancing but here is the issue. I think the virus is showing the world right now how to do social or physical distancing without leading to social isolation. We cannot let that happen. We are finding all kinds of ways to help us prevent the social that social distancing which is necessary for our health could create. We are trying to show that we can reach out to each other and take care of each other in that kind of time. With the doctors and scientists and governors and mayors . They are telling us to please stay home but church is going on. The doors are closed but church is going on. Host here is frank. Caller good morning. Just trying to give an atheist point of view. And ih the show everyday watched all the leaders speak and a lot of god talk, a lot of talk of jesus. My question is, i watch these evenhes, especially tellicos who can heal the children by touching their head out of a wheelchair and the blind to see again. Christianityear of and creationists of going to church . Why cant someone just touch their head and make the virus go away . Is the virus too strong for god . We talk too much about prayer. I think we should be talking more about science and we are wasting a lot of time thinking we have telepathic powers talking to an imaginary person we should be turning to science. Person when we should be talking to science. Guest i agree with you that talk isnt enough. I want to see us putting our faith into action, particularly in terms of caring for those who are left out and left behind. Who will do that is the question. We are told to love our neighbors as ourselves. Taking care of each other but who is going to love our neighbors beyond our own doors . That is what we have to do. There are plenty of reasons that christians have failed to live the way jesus taught that turns people into not being believers at all. I understand those things, i really do. Now is the time not just for talk but for action. Who is putting into action love, the care, the compassion and empathy. Lived, we want to be followers of jesus in this time. It is most important ever to take care of each other, especially those whom christ called the least of these and we have not always done that and it has made people not believe but it is the time for us to put jesus where put jesuss words into action. I want to see love go viral. I am seeing that. Ched those who are unchur can spare some bread and sustenance and we are looking for a way to take care of ourselves and give beyond ourselves and take care of those who are in serious trouble. Host up next is steve calling from tennessee. Caller good morning. Thank you so much for todays program because you have highlighted what i have been saying for years. Christianity unfortunately has camps,vided into two true christians and the even evangelicalsd the who believe everyone is out to get them. Aboutan evangelical for 10 or 11 years until all of this hate started showing up. I went back to being a true christian. A true christian follows the teachings of jesus. They dont worry about they dont push a political agenda. Mr. Brody got up and i listened to him and he talked out of both sides. He vilified liberals. I am a liberal and most of my friends are and we are all christians. It is sad to me, the way that this country is being divided and the fact is in my mind, the even jill echols the even evangelicalsthe have thrown out jesus and replaced him with donald trump as their lord and savior. Reverend wallis is a true christian and he represents true christianity. And it isabout love not about money and the problem in this country is, we have replaced jesus with money and he very explicitly talks about that in his gospels. I want to thank you for this morning and for the opportunity to call in and reverend wallis, ive true i truly appreciate the fact that you are a true christian and you follow the teachings. Host thank you. More than ever, my brother it is time to reclaim jesus as you are speaking of. We have been polarized, politicized and i think somehow jesus gets squeezed out by our politics. Is. Is the world as it when jesus gets squeezed out with politics full of hate and fear and even violence, i think this is a time where we are called back to jesus to reclaim jesus and what he said. He did say it and are we to follow it, yes we are. Even those who left the church, what jesus was saying, it is in need right now, it is what i need right now. Lets put the politics aside. Our faith is supposed to shape our politics, not the other way around and that has been happening for a long time. I hope to reclaim jesus in this moment, lift him up and see what he said. Us to lovet mean for one another, and particularly protect those who jesus called the least of these. Host we will get to deborah in ohio next. Caller i have been listening to your program. Is that the fundamental beliefs i believe is to do onto others as the lenched was the reverend was so right, we just have to love each other. Im staying away from my church because i love those people and would like them to do the same for me. And not go to church and be around large groups so when i go to the store its safer for me to go to the store. Ive been going out once, maybe twice in an emergency to go to the Grocery Store and trying to do everything i can to keep my family safe and myself safe. That are ese Churches Holding Church Services, one reason theyre doing it is because they get a lot of publicity, for themselves and for their churches. And these governments that are going in there and trying to stop them is getting a lot of publicity because theyre the rough and tough people laying down the law. If we just ignore it, stop it from being on the news all the time, stop showing shes defiants, people will be more apt to do whats right and stay at home. Host deborah from ohio, thank you. Guest i couldnt have set it better than you. We stopped going to church in a pandemic. We havent stopped church. Hurch is still going on. Were there, two or three, jesus, i am with you. And in a few minutes my family and i will be going to church in the living room right here at my house and taught not only taking care of ourselves but loving each other as you were saying, loving those beyond us. So this is the time the truth is very few churches, really, are having services in defiance of the law. The ones having it are predictably the usual loud mega Church Pastors who really all they ever do is draw attention to themselves and the media, youre right, covers that. And wants to make this into a religious freedom issue which is absolutely ridiculous. This isnt religious liberty, this is Public Health. Its not infecting our neighbors. Let the loud people be loud and the media cover them. Very, very few pastors and priests are doing this. Were doing what is best to do when youre in a pandemic. You love your neighbors by staying physically apart but not losing that connection, that solidarity, so worship is going on, prayer is going on. Even music is going on with the technology the way it is now. I wouldnt worry about the few people who are loud mega Church Pastors who always worry about themselves. I kind of ignore them in times like this. Host in the New York Times there is an Easter Sunday piece,s headline, the pandemic and will of god, the cut line, the purpose of suffering may be mysterious but we must search for meaning. As the theologic thomas wrote a message for christians to rebel the quarantine, there is a liberty to search the precious moment and not escape it and what does it mean god willed temporary conditions in which our elite lifestyle of International Travel is grounded, our consumption is cut to a minimum, our days are occupied with basic responsibility towards our families and immediate communities, our resources and economic hopes are reduced and were made more dependent upon one another, what does it mean our nation state suddenly seems less potent and armies are infected by a invisible conteenageon that cant be eradicated and countries face the humility of their limits and might think none of this tells us anything about ourselves and gods compassion and justice but if we simply ask to pass through all of this in hasty expectations to a return to normal perhaps we are missing the fundamental point f this exercise. Guest hes so right. What are we learning in this . Easter is never a time, as i said before, to return to normal. We have to return to the new. We are learning a lot from this. We should be made more humble by all of this. We should see those who are always vulnerable, always open before this and this virus has shown this. How can we learn from this. How can this make us more open, more loving, more aware of whats around us . How can it change us . History. We will be changed by this. Were not going to be the same afterwards. How we are after this will depend on how we act through it, what we do, what we do who we do that with, who we act with, how we bring the polarization together around compassion, around the common good not just our own good. I think we can learn from the suffering and take it to a different place. And easter to me is a day to proclaim that, that hope can prevail over despair and that life can prevail over death and we see a world in which, while things are coming apart, jesus is saying i can, i will make all things new. Come join me and help me do that. Host we dont want to make you late for your service even though its in your living room. Verend jim ba jim wallis, his latest book is christ in crisis. We go to michigan. Caller i appreciate the time. Try to make it short. In reference to mr. Wallis comment and also the text message you read about people accepting this as a smite from god. God gave us the truth to believe so the freedom he gives all individuals but we are still responsible for what we do, whether it is spreading truth or not. And i do know that according to god, in reference to our relationship with him, i accept, and i know its offensive to god in not acknowledging his hand in all things, metaphorically, i had a relationship with my father, theres times he did good and times he disciplined me, so saying thats metaphoric how were supposed to look at god. Hes a god that does good, does good all the time. When he chacins us he tests us and this is part of us humbling our imagination because we end up forming perceptions of god he doesnt want to correct us or cant use death or some sort of affliction to chacin our attitudes that this life isnt the end all, be all, and mannerisms and what we love, i think one of your callers said earlier about loving evil, thats worse, going to god and loving evil is worse death than dying a temporal death. Host well hear from reverend wallis. Host jesus, know the truth and the truth will set you free. Ive been thinking about that. Truthfulness is very important in this crisis. Weve seen a lack of truth fulness, very high levels of leadership in this country. And i think the truth really heal us s free and can and untruthfulness is making people sick. Lets go back. You mentioned truth. Lets go back to the truth. Lets own truth, not be afraid of truth. Know the truth can help us and heal us and save us and bring us together again. This time will drive us apart or pull each other through us or bring us back together again and im trusting and believing and acting on the easter conviction that we can be brought together again and that hope will finally triumph over despair, even life over death. Thats what im hoping and believing and praying today on this Easter Sunday. Host reverend jim wallis, president of sojourners, happy easter to you and your family. Guest and to you, too, happy easter. Host feeding america. Claire will join us and talk about what her organization is doing to help food and secure americans during the coronavirus pandemic and also more of your calls coming up as well. First a story from new york. This is syracuse. Com from those Daily Briefings from governor andrew cuomo, the headline, coronavirus shutdown ending soon in new york. Question mark cuomo for pouring cold water on speculation, dismissing the notion the states economy would open any time soon despite more promising signs about the coronavirus pandemic. What happens next is a matter of, quote, life or death the governor said and urged people to set emotions aside and look at data for understanding the way forward. Heres more of what he said in his update yesterday from new york. Andrew good news is the curve of the increase is continuing to flatten. The number of hospitalizations appears to have hit an apex and the apex appears to be a plateau which is what many of the models predicted which it wasnt going to be straight up or straight down, it would be straight up, you hit the top number and plateau a period of time and looks like what were doing, the hospitalization rate is down and thats important. We have more people getting infected still. We have more people going to the hospitals, but we have a lower number. Thats all this is saying is fewer people are going into the hospitals still, net positive. The threeday average which is what we look at because day to day can be somewhat deceiving especially when you get towards the weekend because the weekend reporting gets a little different. But all the numbers are on the downward slope. Still, people getting infected, still people going into the hospital but again a lower rate of increase. The number of i. C. U. Admissions is down. The threeday average on i. C. U. Admissions is down. This is a little deceptive because at one time hospitals d discrete i. C. U. Wards or i. C. U. Beds. Effectively now in a hospital, all the beds are i. C. U. Beds. Its like the entire hospital has turned into an i. C. U. Facility. So this distinction is actually i dont know how enlightening this is. This, however, is still a discrete category. The increase in the number of intubations. And as weve discussed, the intubations are a bad sign from a Health Diagnostic perspective and when we talk about the number of deaths, those tend to be people who have been intubated for the longest period of time. So while i. C. U. Beds may not mean anything anymore in the hospital system, intubations are still intubations and this is a very good sign the intubations are down. We were worried about the spread from new york city to long island and upstate, if you look at the bar chart, you can see almost the wave where it did start to move. We have been working very hard in nassau, suffolk, west cherer, rockland, the suburbs to new york city, and so far weve had hot spots but weve attacked them aggressively and we believe that weve stabilized the situation upstate and in the suburbs which is what you see in that chart. Washington journal continues. Host well open up our phone lines, 2027488000 for those in the eastern and central time zones, 2027488001 for the mountain and Pacific Region. Congress not due back until perhaps the week of the 20th, and some pro forma sessions next week certainly. In the Washington Post this morning, writing about what may be ahead in terms of congressional action, Congress Struggles to adapt to socially distance reality. Ike dabonis and paul kane, both chambers set a date of the 20th, business as usual return is not good since most recommending continuance in lockdown. Trump ousted two inspectors general including one tasked with overseeing administrations handling of trillions of taxpayer dollars and emergency relief. The pandemic only magnified congress inability or unwillingness to check trumps actions as president. Even before the virus trump has declared a National Emergency to take taxpayer dollars from the military and other accounts to build a border wall and installed acting officials to oversee critical departments and agencies, bypassing the confirmation process. Now the congressional leaders have narrowed their focus to assembling rescue legislation which has near unanimous approval thus allowing it to proceed hurdles in largely empty congressional chambers but not all hurdles can be jumped, they write, in an attempt to pass the cares act by a voice vote in the house was complicated when one member, representative Thomas Massey from kentucky insisted on a quorum allowing half the house members to gather in the chamber. On just this last thursday, mcconnells bid to beef up Small Business relief funding by about 250 billion was blocked by democrats who offered their own competing proposal. You can read that at washingtonpost. Com. And of course when the house returns, live coverage here on cspan and Senate Coverage is always on cspan 2. Joining us next is Claire Babineauxfontenot, the chief executive officer with the organization feeding america. Ms. Babineauxfontenot, thank for you being with us this morning. Tell us what the last month has been like for your organization. Guest i think the only word i can use to express it properly is unprecedented. Weve seen significant spikes in demand. Weve seen reductions in supply, and right when people need it the most. Host typically what does your organization do . How broad to you reach and what types of places do you provide food . Guest our network is a network of 200 food banks around the United States and in normal times, over 60,000 pantries, kitchens, meal programs, two million volunteers. So we often have said that we are serving every community where there is Food Insecurity and that means every single county and parish in the u. S. In normal times we serve every parish and county in the whole United States. Host over the last month or so during the pandemic, whats been harder or tougher to get, the need of people who need food or the ability of your organization and similar organizations to get that food . Guest those are equally difficult challenges. Im sure your audience has seen how these retail outlets we have historically relied upon for donated food, they have empty shelves. When their shelves are empty, theyre not in a position to donate to us. So the largest source of food for our network in normal times is through retail donations, Grocery Stores and the type of things we need are the things people are buying the most of. Were having to suprasocial distancing and new safety protocol because of the pandemic and the Health Crisis in the middle of a food crisis which has made it all the more challenging. Host for folks watching and our cspan radio listeners, what do you need most in teerms of what the terms of what the folks at home what do you need most . Guest we need a combination of things. First, we certainly continue to need buns and we had a remarkable outpouring of and has hat bipartisan been meaningful and helpful for us and we need people to donate their times. We rely significantly on volunteers, two million as i think we mentioned earlier. As you might imagine because of safety concerns as well as because of an inordinate number of people who volunteer inside of our network are elderly and therefore have their own challenges they need to think about appropriately. Weve had fewer and fewer volunteers who can help us. So the thing that i encourage people to do is go out to feedingamerica. Org and there they can find a place where they can donate whatever theyre able to donate in terms of funds. They also on that website can locate the food banks that serves the communities they care the most about. And when they go into the website for that Community Food bank, they can find out, do they need volunteers, do they need them to bring in food or do they need funding and if so what kind of funding might they be able to help with . Host in your previous experience you were executive Vice President and global treasurer for walmart. How did that experience and logistics and planning you participated in at walmart prepare you for this . Guest i dont know id be able to rightfully say anything could have prepared any of us for this. But i can say that i have leveraged every experience that i had before coming to feeding america, i tried to put in play in this work. So certainly at walmart we confronted large scale, we confronted significant disruption. I hope that that helps me be a little bit better positioned to serve in this capacity. But what were seeing today, its a perfect storm and its truly unprecedented. Im so proud, though, from the people that i guess i work with every day at the National Office but also around the country. So many of whom volunteer their services to help their neighbors and right now their neighbors need them more than ever. Host our guest is Claire Babineauxfontenot, executive officer of feeding america. Welcome your comments and calls, 2027488000. For those in the eastern and central time zones, 23027488001 the mountain and Pacific Region and if youre experiencing Food Insecurity or not able to get to the Grocery Store or not able to get what you need on a daytoday basis the line we set aside is 2027488002. There was an article in thursdays wall street journal, similar piece from the New York Times this morning, wall street journal headline on their piece said farmers dump milk, break eggs as Coronavirus Restaurant closing destroys demand. How reliant in the past is your organization, feeding america, on that type of donation from restaurants from their food bins. Guest youve identified another stream weve been able to reliably and consistently access. One of the things that people, even those who know our network may not realize is that we are the largest food waste Recovery Organization in the u. S. So while about 72 billion pounds of edible food tends to go to landfills, our organization recovers billions of pounds of that food and instead of going to landfill goes to feed people who are hungry. When i mention the perfect storm, i didnt mention all of the elements of that storm but the challenges around restaurants and restaurant productivity are definitely causing a strain on our network as well. And you mentioned the dumping and those challenges there. And i want to identify the fact that feeding america has had long term partnerships with farmers, the dairy industry, etc. And were working right now to try to come up with highly Effective Solutions in a really challenging environment. I dont believe any of those people who are dumping want to dump. Theyd much prefer that that food find its way to people who can use it and were working on some solutions to try to make that happen. Host the New York Times this morning with statistics on that process. Again, the lead piece, empty shelves but farms put food to waste. They write the amount of waste is staggering, the nations Largest Dairy cooperative, Dairy Farmers of america, estimate farmers are dumping as much as 3. 7 million gallons of milk each day. A single chicken processor is smashing 750,000 unhatched eggs each week. Many farmers donated part of the surplus food banks and meals on Wheels Programs which have been overwhelmed with demand but theres only so much perishable foods with charities with limited number of refrigerators that they can absorb. Your thoughts . Guest that is accurate. One of the things not highlighted in your comments was the fact one of the challenges wed have in the charitable food system would be the type of containers we need, the size, if you will. As you might imagine, these Dairy Farmers have things in bulk and our ability to take that on and put it in consumer sizing is challenging, especially in an environment where we need to practice new safety protocols. So if youre standing six feet apart, if you have fewer volunteers, our ability to work with the product has been diminished. As i said before, im sure, as our farmers equally sure that theres a way for us to match these up better than we have, and were going to work really hard to come up with some better solutions. Host lets go to calls. We hear frirs from even id in tacoma mark, maryland. Thanks for waiting and go ahead with your comments. Youre on the air. Go ahead. Caller hello. Host youre on the air. Go ahead. Caller i would like to suggest the farmers who are dumping all this milk and eggs and Different Things that they be given to restaurants that are preparing meals and so on so that it could be shared to the people who see lines and lines of cars that people need food. So instead of the farmers dumping instead of the farmers dumping all this milk and eggs and so on it be shared so that it could be prepared and used. Host Claire Babineaux fontenot have you had conversations with the farmers and potentially actions your organization could take to help them out with this . Guest we have. Yes. I may have mentioned this earlier. Weve had a long history of having partnerships that cut across just about every industry in the United States and that certainly includes farmers. And were actively talking with farmers right now. What we have to do is change the whole logistical system for delivering these products to people who need them and unfortunately, that has taken a also time but were working with them. Were also appealing to the government to help us do that in a way thats sufficient. As i hope that your addence has seen there have been things we all agreed upon. We shouldnt have waste when people are facing hunger. And in the middle of the crisis ive seen quite a bit of bipartisanship consensus on trying to match it up and were working now through a plan and hoping to get the logistics in place to deliver this quickly because there are people in crisis now and they cant wait. Were working very directly with farmers and work our way through. The federal government has a role to play and were working on the dynamics of all those three. Host wild and wonderful. Echoing your comments, every day the u. S. Throws away enough food to feed a nation, its a travesty. Bill next in albany, georgia. Good morning. Caller i appreciate you taking my call. How are you doing . Host you bet. Caller im a disabled vet, older and my mom is 90 years old on oxygen. We have nonworking cars and you cant ride transportation now and we cant afford a taxi so we are really stuck. I get food stamps but not nearly enough with the extension that they give right now. Its hard. And i dont understand why we have military bases here and a marine base town the road, why you cant have them guys for People Like Us who have no transportation and cant deliver m. R. I. Boxes to the door and drop them off. They dont have to do anything, just drop them off the door and leave them there so we can have food. I called the food bank and no one will deliver no matter your situation. No one delivers food to you. We are stuck. Ere in a bad situation. Host bill, good luck. Guest i recently visited albany, georgia. I was there last year. A remarkably Resilient Community who has had to deal with a lot of challenges coming on all at once. A lot of businesses have left the area. There are an inordinate number of children and elderly in albany. Weve recently actually just refortified our efforts in albany in the hope of being ore helpful to that community. And what id encourage your caller to do is go to feedingamerica. Org and put in your zip code. Theres more than one set of food banks out there. He one i can put my name and recognition among is feeding america. There are a lot of wonderful ones out there but i have a personal relationship with feeding america food bank. Feed america. Org. Theres a food locator inside that website. Just put in your zip code and it will direct you to the food bank that serves that community youre in. You reach out directly and say aire babineauxfontenot told me to do this. The caller also mentioned the military. I dont know if youve seen but there are lots of images of members of the National Guard in particular coming out and elping us, one, with our distributions, our pack and distributions because of our lack of volunteers and also that can emphasis on safety and we are doing some direct deliveries and meals on wheels in fact is another remarkable organization and they do direct delivery to seniors. I bet theres a way for us to come up with a better solution for that family. I can hear in his voice how much he wants to be able to help his mom and he, if i heard correctly, hes actually a veteran himself. Theres so many reasons theres no one in this country who should not know where theyre going to get their next meal from, no one. I must admit i have a special place in my heart for the elderly and those who served with distinction. Surely well find a way to help this caller and hopefully hell do what i ask and if he cant find relief in that venue then try to find me, im the only babineauxnont not i know that works in our whole network. So well try our best to find a way to help him and help his mom. Host theres a picture in the wall street journal on friday of a Food Distribution center in the nations capital, a little help, provisions are packed at our Food Distribution center . Washington, d. C. They point the nations fallen amid the outbreak. What about people who want to donate nonperishable canned goods and other nonperishables to their food distributors, what should they do. Guest we have 200 food banks. And not every situation is the same. Those c. E. O. s of those food banks know what they need. They know how they need it. They can be very, very helpful. When i say the c. E. O. s, there are teams of professionals that work inside those food banks, the leaders of whom are the c. E. O. s are executive directors, so in the washington, d. C. Area, theres a remarkable c. E. O. At Capital Area Food Bank in d. C. Who not only works on challenges of people eat drag but who has done some really meaningful work in a short period of time around understanding what the systemic causes are for hunger in her community and theyve come up with programmatic design and efforts that were making progress before this crisis and well be leaning on activist crisis as well. Feeding america. Org, go to your Food Bank Locator and put in the zip code. If youre in the d. C. Area, youll find that that Capital Area Food Bank is the one that it will likely send you to and ask them, what do you need and they will be able to tell you what it is that they need. Host gary calling from broken bow, oklahoma. Hello there. Caller hello. Couple comments and yesterday on cspan a lady gave out a phone number to help you get meals on wheels. Whats amazing to me, she gave one phone number for the entire nation. The odds of getting through on that phone is more than winning the lottery. Theres no access to let anyone know im a 67 years old, i have cancer, i cant hardly walk, i certainly cant walk to a Grocery Store. I cant properly feed myself. Host when is the last time you were able to get food delivered r have someone buy it for you . Caller i never have. I never have. Can buy my own food but i dont have access to it. I leave my house once every three weeks to go get chemo treatments. I have cancer in my hip. I cant barely walk. Host youre seeking assistance from meals on Wheels Program in your area . Caller that would be a godsend for me. I did not eat yesterday. Ost you didnt eat yesterday . Caller so far today i have nothing to eat. I have food in the freezer but like i said, i cant stand up long enough to cook. Host we hope people hear this and ill let you go here and hear from babineauxfontenot. Good luck. Guest i dont know what the proper protocol would be to able to zoom in in understanding exactly where this gentleman is and for privacy reasons i understand there would be things necessary to protect his interests. But i did hear that hes in broken bow, oklahoma, and feeding america has enjoyed a really, really deep and Meaningful Partnership with meals on wheels for a very long time. I know that theyre really Mission Driven people who desperately want to be helpful for people, our aging population that work inside that organization. I will take it upon myself to reach out to the people that i know at meals on wheels and also reach out personally to the food bank that serves broken bow and see if theres a way for us to combine forces to make certain that we get to gary and to the other people like him who are out there. Host the good point on that, too. Ill ask our producer, claire, if you get that phone number and if its ok to read on the air, assuming gary is continuing to watch, ill ask our producer, perhaps we can get a phone number for the meals on wheels there in broken bow. He was talking i think perhaps of a nationwide tollfree he was unable to get through but if we can get a more specific phone number for broken bow or an email address, i think a phone number would be the best thing, gary, if youre watching, keep on watching and well try to do that before the end of the program. Thanks for calling. Lets get to larry in gladwin, michigan. Youre on. Caller hello. Host go ahead, larry. Guest my whole discussion is i go to the store to buy milk and all the shelves are empty and upsets me the farmers are throwing the milk on the ground and eggs. Our whole town, you cant even go buy eggs up town, i have to o get them from the amish. Host weve talked about this a bit. It must be hard you mentioned the farmers being really in a tough situation over this but they really have no choice in terms of being able to deliver to organizations like you in the right sizes and amounts, correct . Guest its a real challenge, it really is. But what i know, to acknowledge that somethings difficult is only the first step. We then have a responsibility to work through those difficulties. And weve never had more of a responsibility to do that than we do right now. So we are actively engaged and we have urgency to our engagement and it is happening on both sides and including the government in this as well. I think one of the things that i would you asked earlier. Bout how people can help one of the things i implore people to think about, before this crisis happened, there were nearly 40 Million People in this country who did not have consistent access to nutritious foods. 11 million of them were kids. Almost six million were seniors. In a country that was throwing away 72 billion pounds of perfectly edible food a year and doesnt count household waste. Theres systemic issues we need to address around Food Insecurity and what our estimations are, weve Research Scientists and remarkable people who work inside of our networks who have done Impact Analysis to try to understand what do we think based upon what is normal today, the impact of a tradable food system will be over the course of the next six months because of this pandemic. And our early estimates are thats about 1. 4 billion dollars. We also estimate that there will be about 17 Million People who will be added to that already almost 40 Million People who are food insecure. So i ask people, no matter what your politics are, i ask you that you remember these challenges that people are facing today and that we not forget about them when the health side of this challenge goes away. There will still be a food crisis in this country and it actually will have gotten worse because of this Health Crisis. So people can be informed about what is happening and if they can use their voices to ask the people who they care about, the people they vote for, ask them what their positions are on some of these things. Expect people to be bipartisanship and put all of the rest of it aside when it comes to making certain that the 22 million children in this country who rely upon free and reduced meals at school and for whom that meal is the only consistent access that they have to nutritious food in good times, i just hope that your listeners will join our network in being partners in ensuring that those kids can consistently rely upon food in the future as well when the pandemic, when the health scare is gone. And im confident in i have so much confidence in the American People and ive had people tell me, i must not be living in the same world they live in and i tell them you must not be living in the world i live in. Ive been the beneficiary of remarkable generosity my whole life. I see it every day in this work. I see people give a dime when they only have a dollar. I see people with a lot of wealth give a lot of money. And i value every contribution equally. And i see all of this generosity and its because of the american spirit and our resilience that im confident we will find our way past this really difficult circumstance. I want to be in terms of the health care side of it, and the economy will get going again and investing, by the way, in the most vulnerable members of society because they have no other options is a great way to actually have an economic stimulus is to make certain that you have people who need to spend their money to go buy food, etc. , they help to stimulate the economy as well. Im just so hopeful that one of the things that we learn as a result of all of this pain is to continue to think about our neighbors and to think about how do we address some of these systemic issues so we can help people to emerge from this crisis even better than they were before it happened. Host one more question for you. You mentioned the help of the u. S. Military. Barbara in cape girardo, have they reached out to the federal overnment to obtain from the distributing . Guest one of the supply is food we receive from the federal government. The number one source would be retail grossers, the second would be food we receive from the federal government. And then we are working on new innovative ways, publicprivate partnerships, how do we leverage the fact that there are these and leverage feels like the wrong term because its a tragic circumstance but in this circumstance where we have all these restaurants who have to shutter and close their doors because they have low volume through their current ability to serve, how do we bring all of that to bear when we have a food crisis and we are definitely working on coming up with creative and Innovative Solutions to that, too. I thank your audience for sking that question as well. Host we thank you for being with us, Claire Babineauxfontenot is the executive officer at feedamerica. Org. There are over 15 minutes left in the program and well open up our phone lines for you and our question we started with this morning, should religious gatherings be exempt from stay at home orders . Our lines for you 2027488000 for the eastern and central time zones, 2027488001, mountain and pacific and if youre a religion leader, that line is 2027488002. Well be right back. Tonight at 9 00 eastern on afterwards former u. N. Official Michelle King with her book the fix. Were often in denial women face. Something i discovered in my own research is people assume amare stock recents, and there is a believe everybody is the same because everybody is treated in the same way and people dont have different experiences of work and with that kind of logic, were not only denying difference but ere denying inequality. Auch afterwards with Michelle King tonight at 9 00 p. M. On book tv on cspan 2. Television has changed since cspan began 41 years ago but our Mission Continues to provide an unfiltered view of government. Already this year we brought you primary election coverage, the impeachment process and now the federal response to the coronavirus. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio app. And be a part of the National Conversation through cspans daily Washington Journal Program or through our social media feeds. Cspan, created by private industry. Americas Cable Television company. As a public service. And brought to you today by your television provider. Washington journal continues. Host a few more minutes left in the program, 15 minutes or so, 2027488000 for the eastern and central time zones, 2027488001, mountain and pacific. And if you are a religion eader of any type, 2027488002. The question, should religious organizations be exempt from the stay at home orders issued now in all of the states across the country with wyoming being the last, this is the headline at the washingtontimes. Com, william barr, the attorney general, very concerned about coronavirus religious freedom restrictions and in their article they write the attorney general said that the Justice Department will scrutinize emergency efforts to restrict religious liberty after the threat from the deadly coronavirus. Quote, were going to keep an eye on all these actions that restrict peoples liberty he said in an interview with fox news laura ingram. Nd from twitter, Public Health is not tyranny but common sense and promotes the common good. Michelle in leavenworth, washington. Michelle, youre first up. Go ahead. Have i believe that we a responsibility to be promoting faith, not fear. Theres a pandemic of fear going on. And today theyre stripping away what makes us who we are. Easter is about going to church for me. Im not going to church and were not going to brunch. D it seems really strange to essential businesses like the jet pro car wash is open, Different Things, the marijuana shop. I dont under how that can be open and yet we cant go worship. Host our capital hill producer greg kaplan tweeting an image of the democratic leader in the senate, chuck schumer. And schumer on saturday night sader to benefit the centers or Disease Control Emergency Response fund. Bill, good morning. Caller i believe you should stay away from the churches for a little while and perhaps give the government a chance to investigate the unemployment checks that arent going out. Its a big scandal down here in florida. Thanks to rick scott. Host bill, why arent they going out, whats the story there . Caller rick scott on the unemployment system in the state of florida while he was governor and desantis knew all about it and Stephanie Murphy has introduced some legislation to investigate that. Im not feeling too well. Yeah. Thats a big story. Lyon, iris in south michigan. Hi there. Caller good morning and happy easter to everybody and happy passover to my 2 . Yes, i believe that people should be able to go to their place of worship. Its the only place we have connection. Were being told not to talk to anybody, to shelter in place, going out is getting idiculous. I do believe if you can stand in crowds in florida to get some paperwork or get your money and certain places are getting money and they are not tanding six feet apart and these theres congregation in places, you should be able to go to your place of worship which is the only connection you have with any sanity in these crazy times. So if not, why not. If were going to get sick, were going to get sick. Tell us at least what it is we have. It could be tuberculosis for all you know. They put so many code names on everything, you dont know what you got. And theyre experimenting with it. Why is there a number 19 . Why do they call it coronavirus. And then theres code v19. Whats the other 20, 50, how many hundreds, you dont give names to everything . Were losing connection. Is that what you want, a world of silence on the internet . You cant even go to a funeral. Host thats iris in michigan. Detroit metro times, the headline about their governor, Governor Whitmer criticized for exempting churches from a stay at home order. To matt in wesley chapel, florida. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host make sure you mute your sound and go ahead with your comment. Caller i dont believe people should be going out to church. I mean, were trying to save lives here. Why take the risk . And the other thing is everybody is quick to blame trump. Every president of every country is behind on this virus. It is what it is. It happened, now we just have to all Work Together and get through it. Wish everybody all the best. Host a followup to a caller we had in your previous segment. Gary from broken bow, arizona, who is having trouble getting food from the meals on Wheels Program, gary, if youre listening, we found a program in broken bow, the eastern oklahoma, the Community Food bank of eastern oklahoma. Nd their phone line is 9185852800. Again, this is the Community Food bank of eastern oklahoma. So call them, 9185852800 and hope that helps out. Well go to matthew next in round pond, maine. Good morning, matthew. Caller good morning. We have a lighthouse at the end of the peninsula and there was just a large group of people for the sun rise service, depending on which way the wind blows, the virus could be spreading. And id like to pound out matthew 6 6, when you pray go into the room and close the door and pray to your father who is unseen and your father who sees what it done in secret will reward you. These people are selfish and just killing people. Its unnecessary. You can pray and celebrate easter with your bible, with your cross at your house. You have a channel for the catholic channel and protestant channel on spectrum cable. You dont need to put peoples lives at risk on your own life and thank you very much for cspan, god bless you. Host to barry next in cross hill, south carolina. Hi there. Caller how are you doing . Host fine, thank you. Caller in 2008 i died and when i went to the other side they told me if you want to pray to god, you just get down on your knees if youre in the yard or in your car or if youre in your lounge chair at home. You start talking, hes going to listen. These people are going to these churches, like this guy said, its selfish and unbelievable to me somebody would risk their grandma and grandpa and brothers and sisters lives when they can do the same thing at home. Thank you very much. Host barry, a tweet here from elizabeth on the Postal Service and she writes not much will compare to the total mayhem republicans could cause letting the usps Postal Service die and they never understood what all they did because its a nonprofit or theyre not interested, millions of house bound americans get their prescriptions, usps even mails cremated ashes. And on that, an update on the funding for the Postal Service from the Washington Post this morning, white house pans bailout for beleaguered post office, through rain, sleet, hail and even a pandemic, mail carriers serve every address in the United States but the Coronavirus Crisis is shaking the foundation of the u. S. Postal service in new and dire ways and write the Postal Service decades long financial troubles have worsened dramatically as the volume of the kind of mail that pays the agencys bills, first class and marketing mail has withered during the pandemic and needs an infusion of money and President Trump blocked emergency funding for the agency that employs around 600,000 workers and repeating instead the false claim higher rates for internet shipping companies, amazon a fedex and ups would right the services budget. Read the entire argument at washingtonpost. Com. Well hear from annette next in madison, georgia. Good morning. Caller yes, as an ordained minister, i believe that yes, religious people as well as people in the United States, we have rights. However, our rights are not absolute. Mainly, for instance, if we were going to physically harm someone, we do not have the right to do that except in the case of selfdefense. So therefore, if we appear in public and we know were putting someone elses lives at risk, we do not have those rights. Those rights are removed and thats the christian thing to do. Host ok. To michael, lehigh, oklahoma. Good morning, michael. Go ahead. Caller i dont think anybody ought to be exempt for nothing. I think they should take consideration of everybody around them and stay home and get rid of this thing. Its nobodys fault. It just happened. Host our question for you this morning, should religious organizations be exempt from the stay at home orders . Weve got a couple more calls and well hear from bob next in marshall, virginia. Go ahead. Caller yeah, these people like the woman a couple three callers ago who called up and was literally lecturing us. Id like to point out three things to her and i hope people listen to what im about to say because this is very, very accurate in terms of historically what happened in past pandemics. In the pandemic of the early part of the 1900s there was pushback like this and the result was tense of millions of people dying. During the plague of the late 1340s to the early 1350s, the religious leaders were in charge and they called for the people to congregate and the result was the planet losing a good percentage of its population. Wake up, my god. Host to austin, arkansas, we hear from diane next. Good morning. Caller hello, thank for you taking my call. Host sure. Caller here in arkansas, the churches are still gathering, theyre gathering in cars in the parking lot and not getting out of their cars. And i dont think that we should have the right to make people not congregate. We can do it in a respectable way thats respecting the health of everybody else. We can stay in our cars. We can let one person in at a time and have them sit 10 or 15 feet away. But thats the constitutional right, if the government him starts running over the hurches, where will they stop . Thats just my comment. Host appreciate you calling in. Well go to frank next up in morrison, tennessee. Welcome. Caller yes. I wanted to comment about the lady that was on before pertaining to the food. Im full time farmer. Ive been for over 50 years. Theres not anything that we are growing out here or raising. We grow dairy cattle, beef cattle, wheat, soy beans, different produce. Theres not anything out here that we are producing today thats making any money. So i dont understand why they cant pay up for food here. And another thing is we have a tremendous problem with labor. And you know, people say they cant afford to buy food. We can put people to work. We cannot find people to show up for work. Host not only has it gotten harder in the last month during the pandemic to find those folks . Caller no, weve had that problem for the last before no, sir. Ame in here, these people are just not going to do this kind of work. And we pay good money, too. They can make good money on what we do up here. Host how big is your farm . Caller 5,000 acres. We cant find people to show up for work here. And there is as an abundance of food up here. The second thing and ill be quiet, the commodities markets are falling dramatically. Theyre falling dramatically. There aint a shortage of food out here, why in the world are the prices on these commodities dropping . Some of them havesome of them hs much as 30 or 40 . Host thanks for sharing your experience this morning. That will wrap it up for washington journal this morning. We did want to tell you about tomorrows program. Kaiser health news will join us to talk about the latest on the Coronavirus Fight against the pandemic. We will also hear from the Economic Policy director at the bipartisan policy center, talking about the fed and what the fed can do during the pandemic and other Economic News related to the coronavirus. That will do it for this mornings program. We hope you are with us tomorrow morning at 7 00 eastern and for our primetime program. Happy easter to you. Have a great weekend. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspan has roundtheclock coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. It is all available on demand at cspan. Org coronavirus. Briefings, house updates from governors and state officials, track the spread through the u. S. And the world with interactive maps. Watch on demand any time. Unfiltered at cspan. Org coronavirus. Monday night on the communicators, American Economic liberties project founder sarah miller on Big Tech Companies as monopolies and the impact of corporate concentration. Now there are essentially a couple strategies. Are you going to sell to facebook or to google . What that has done is warped with ability of innovators in Silicon Valley to actually innovate according to market needs and ideas. Guessing,veryone is how can i develop something facebook will buy or google will buy . That is not necessarily how we want and Innovation Sector to function. Watch the communicators monday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. A special evening addition of washington journal on the federal response to the Coronavirus Crisis. Join us at eight 00 p. M. Eastern with dr. Anthony fauci, the director of the National Institute of allergies and Infectious Diseases and a member of the white house Coronavirus Task force and director of the Infectious Diseases division at the university of alabama at Birmingham School of medicine on the national fight against the coronavirus and his own experience contracting and recovering from the disease. Join the conversation about the Coronavirus Crisis on washington journal prime time monday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. States to closely watch was kansas, where the decision came down late yesterday from the Supreme Court. Of the a recording public Radio Station in kansas city. Court preserves a ban on large Church Services