If you think yes, call this number 202 7488000, and if you think no, you can also call 202 7488001, and you can also send a text, 202 7488003. And if you cannot wait in on social media, you can post a comment on facebook. Before we get to your calls this sunday morning, we wanted to stunning front page to the New York Times this morning. 100,000, sonearing there is no traditional news story on this front page this morning. This is a series of names where they are from, folks who have passed away or died from the coronavirus, and they have published 1000 of these names, just 1 with biographies or Something Special about those people. They write that the numbers alone cannot possibly measure the impact of the coronavirus on america, whether it is the number of patients treated, jobs interrupted or lives cut short. As the country nears a grim milestone, the times scoured obituaries and death notices of the victims, the 1000 people reflect just 1 of the total, they were not simply names on the list. They were us. You can see it spans the front page of the times and goes deeper into the paper. 12 and 13 that we have. Just 1 of the 1000 people who have died so far in this number reaches one hundred thousand perhaps this coming week. On this sunday, here is a reminder of what the president had to say on friday at his News Conference announcing the churches and other houses of worship should be reopened. Here is a look. Pres. Trump some governors have deemed Liquor Stores and abortion clinics as essential, but have left out churches and other houses of worship. I am correcting this injustice and calling houses of worship essential. I call upon governors to allow our churches and places of worship to open right now. If there is any question, they will have to call me, but they will not be successful in that call. These are places that hold the society together, and the people are demanding to go to church and synagogues. Many millions embrace worship as an essential part of life. The ministers and pastors and rabbis and other faith leaders will make sure that their congregations are safe as they gather and pray. I know them well. They love their congregations. They love their people. They do not win anything bad to happen to them or anybody else. The governors need to do the right thing and allow these essential places of faith to open right now. For this weekend. If they do not know it, i will override the governors. In america we need more prayer, not less. Host that was the president from fridays News Conference. We have a religion reporter from the Washington Post to explain how the president ultimately got to that announcement on friday. The vast majority of houses of worship in the United States have been up until now pretty conservative and closed, but as we have been talking about reopening, it has become evident that the reopening is more complicated than the closing seem to have been. There has been a back and forth going on behind the scenes between the cdc and the white house about whether there should be kind of a federal guidance for houses of worship. It just a couple of days before the president made that announcement on friday, we and others reported that the white house was saying there was going to be no plans for any federal guidance in part because they did not want to give the impression that they were adding more regulations to whatever was going on at the state and local level to what houses of worship have to do to figure out how to reopen. For reasonsersed that are not completely clear, said whatesident also your listeners heard. He does not have the authority to override governors on that kind of thing, but he is speaking for a minority, but a passionate and engaged minority of americans who feel disrespected. He is focusing their on the issue of being essential, the status of houses of worship. I have seen that in my reporting throughout this for again a minority but a pretty engaged minority who feel what is being whatis a continuation of they see as a diminishing of religion in the country. To hear him say churches are the head ofnd i saw the Southern Baptists convention saying thank you to the president. That is what he is really speaking to, there are many people ofncluding color that have lost many people. O the virus, including leaders the church of god and christ, primarily africanamerican denomination have lost dozens to the virus. He is really speaking to that question of respect and freedom of religion more than anything else. Host what has the reaction been by the governors around the country and those who lead the congregations . Like on a lot of things, the country is very diverse. I think the majority of states that never had restrictions on houses of worship, and then you had some that have had the most stringent. And then you have kind of a mix. In mostity is that places, again the vast majority of the houses of worship have gone along with the closures. They have gone along with Health Officials who have put churches into the same opening phase category as other places where people gather for long periods of time. This is because Health Officials who have had these restrictions on houses of worship put them in a category like theaters or movies where you are sitting together and especially this issue of prayer and singing where you are putting out your breath and possibly sharing the virus. Are veryes conservative about opening, but there have been places where people who wanted to open, we saw some clashes in minnesota in the last few days where the Catholic Church and one of the , and thereominations are many lutherans in minnesota, hired lawyers and said we want to open. They are still not open today, did say the governor that churches would be able to have anything but very small, 10 people or less, Indoor Services after the legal challenge. I think you still have the vast majority of places where people are going along with the Health Officials. You have a small but engaged minority who are trying places wheree freedom for churches to open at a larger level. The president was talking about people pushing for their churches to be open, i went to church last weekend in virginia, the first week and they were led to be open outside of northern virginia, and it took a while to find a place that was open. People do not want to hurt the people in their churches. The church i went to was about 50 full. Pretty much all jewish groups remain closed. They said they were going to wait until after they see the numbers go down before we consider opening. And you had several of the president s top religious still big mega churches closed. You have a lot of diversity, and there are a lot of places where churches are really hurting from being closed, financially hurting, places that serve food and all kinds of things on the weekend. There is a big diversity of desires here. You do have people who are tapping into one, this question of freedom and respect for religion, and there is sort thing, i haveal heard a lot of pastors tell me, this is the minority, but saying that if you are close, you feel you are telling your congregation that the virus is stronger than god. That is a controversial kind of thing to say but it is a reality that people are confused or feel that theyre are putting forward something confusing about what they are telling their congregation. I think it has been a hard time for clergy. Michelle, thanks for bringing us up to date on this issue. I appreciate it. Here is the headline to the story, trumps tell states to and should to open, houses reopen, this is andrew from North Carolina. Good morning. Caller i appreciate you having this dialogue today. Here in the south we view the houses of worship as essential there will not be one minister of any of those congregations who will not say his or her church are not essential. It is what we do. It is at our heart, getting together. The governor of North Carolina, the liberal of North Carolina lost a court case asked week because he overplayed his hand allowing churches to reopen at the same time that other institutions were being allowed to reopen. He admitted as much that he overplayed his hand because he to say going all that let congregations determine these things. They are not going to want to their parishioners hurt. They are valuable to them. I think they will get it right. Host melissa, your thoughts on whether houses of worship should reopen. Thank you. Is your founder still alive . Host he is doing great. Caller good. You guys are a shining light, like a lighthouse bringing the ship it to shore. I cannot say enough about cspan. It almost makes me want to cry. I think it is wonderful here in montana we have a tight community, and there is a bar on main street and right next to it is the church. It is hilarious, but i think it is interesting that they deemed the house of spiritual, liquor spirits, because alcoholism is a spirit, the state opened it immediately, but then the house of worship, now i think it is wonderful that they will recognize the fact that we do thata higher power, and america is founded on a higher power. This is such a wonderful thing that we are having these discussions about the higher power. Host if the houses of worship are reopened in red lodge, what kind of limitations, what should the set up be like . Does the cdc stand for . Disease. Ters for caller we can follow those options. Those people are really smart. If we follow the guidelines, i think that would be a good idea. I would really like to ask you to please do some issues on animal rights. I know they do that thing like where the thing is people are working in a warehouse. But there is legislation to prevent people from even talking about it. Caller frome a montana. Caller good morning. Of thing toome type prove your christian merit. Most common sense pastors and rabbis, mosts, will practice common sense, and the fact that the majority of their congregation is likely they to be of senior age, are going to proceed slowly and with caution. This is not to prove to religious conventions and the president of the United States that you are on his side or some nonsense like that. This is common sense. How many lives are worth you simply being able to go into a building, from my understanding au can worship christ in closet or anywhere. To go and hold hands and share nuts . S, are you there is a pandemic. They just spoke about the bishops. You have clerks that are dying. En havey catholic clergyma died from this . This is nuts. Who has espouse the least christian beliefs in his public life and likely this is your left on a pedestal, from what he says. And it is crunch time, how is he handling it . Host that was our caller from illinois. Cdc. Gov is the place to go to read the titans for communities communities. For they have a whole page on this issue. Pointers,about some determine current mitigation levels and find protection for staff and especially those at higher risk. They talk about encouraging organizations that share facilities also follow these considerations. They do talk about churches here , interim guidance for communities of faith. There is a lot of information here that has come out just in the last couple of days. This is joe from Cape Canaveral in florida. Should houses of worship reopen again . Caller absolutely. I am catholic, and from that , i am human, and we are all going to die. But i believe that there is life after death through jesus christ. s the previous caller ,omments, down here in florida they set up times, early times, for the grocery store, other 8 00s, between 7 00 and for the elderly or those with underlying conditions that would put them in harms way, they e the only one allowing allowed in the store. The bishop already put out great guidelines for humans going to church. You do not hold hands anymore. You bow to each other when it is time to give peace. Mass early ine a the morning. I used to take my elderly mother first everyday to the first mass. She passed away. That was a long time ago. So they could have masses just notthose people so they are in harms way. Comments therefrom joe. The is a write up from archdiocese of new york. Statementput out this called faith forward, returning to public worship. They are breaking everything down into phases paid phase i, churches open for private pair and confessions. Celebration of the right of distributing all of the communion outside of mass and the celebration of daily and funeral masses with limited attendance, and a celebration of sunday mass with supervised attendance. Finally they will work up to resumption of parish mass schedules and they will give complete descriptions of each phase. Cityrchdiocese in new york preparing for reopening. Heres a little bit more from the white house News Conference friday. Dr. Birx was asked to respond to the president possible order about these institutions in deemed essential. What guidelines do you have as they prepare to reopen . Should it be appropriate nationwide right now . I have checked, all 50 states have on their websites with their new cases were over the last 2448 hours. We are trying to get every state to do that by zip code. I believe a knowledgeable community can make judgments for themselves. I think each one of the leaders in the Faith Community should be in touch with their local Health Department to communicate and certainly people that have significant comorbidities, we want them protected. I know those houses up worship want to protect them. Theyy ensuring that maybe cannot go this week if there is a high number of covid cases. Maybe they wait another week, but there is a way to social distance like you are here in places of worship. I think what we are trying to say with the cdc guidance is there is a way for us to Work Together to have social distancing and safety for people so that we decrease the amount of exposure that anyone would have. I say it that way because i know all of you, all americans, if they did not feel well they would not go to church that day. Host that was from friday read more of your calls, deborah from atlanta. What are your thoughts . Caller they should not be open in my opinion. Typesple have different of services for people hold , and, and we have prayer we hugged each other. We greet each other, and mainly it is the older people. Hardly any of the younger people go to the black churches anymore. I just feel it is not safe. I am a senior myself, and i do not feel it is safe even with a mask. We just not ready yet to open. Wheregive us an update on your governor stands on all of this. We know he had reopened churches a while back. Caller the governor has not really said anything about the churches not yet. I am waiting today to see what he says. Earlierat about the caller who said it should be up to the congregations and there would be ways of doing this that dont involve physical interaction may be instead of shaking a hand you bow instead letter ora public document, maybe something on your phone you could read. What do you think of those kinds of modifications . Caller i like the online thing because you do not need to be in the Church Building to worship god. Until we know more about how this is going, i think it is too soon for the elderly, because that is what is mainly in the churches. My great concern is for them because i am an elderly person myself. I have been tested, so i am safe. That is how i feel. Host this is joseph from brooklyn, new york. I think this is the nice thing trump has done. It has been discussed walking down the streets, and seeing people getting drunk, not , and i went to tell you something. At any market you look at, the second wave is the biggest wave honestly. All right. Any market you look at, the second wave is the biggest way. I am going to stay inside and watch tv. Host more of the voices from the white house. The Spokesman Says the president and all americans went to see their churches safely open. Not only is it good for the community but it is their right to worship freely without government intrusion. To administration continue partner with states to ensure hunger nations are properly protected and here is a recent. Uling on the other side a religious gathering in person is not analogous to picking up groceries or food where people enter a building quickly and do not engage directly with others and leave when the task is complete. It is more analogous to attending school or a concert, where people sit together and share a communal experience. This statement after a parishioner at a Family Church in fontana asked the los angeles judge to strike down the governors rules governing churches. He ruled against her. This is dorothy from arkansas. Good morning. Caller i think it is up to the individual as to whether they would go to a church service. The churches can be open, but it should be very careful, that the individuals know, because interventions are not very good in church. I know some have tried to open, and what they have had is two or three people catching the virus. Host when you say careful, what do you mean . Caller careful means that you habits,r own physical and you know your own physical body as to whether you have blood pressure, diabetes or some preexisting condition. Thats what you need to be fully aware of because sometimes, like i have noticed, the biggest problem inside the church is the ventilation, the circulation of air. If you do not have a good ventilation space, then it is not going to work to have services. ,e have been doing services streaming on the phone. It has been coming out there. Some people go to the building because they know their physical health. From fred is on the line ohio. Good morning. Caller good morning. Technically i am a senior. I am 64. No one brings this up, whether i go to church or not, i feel i should be able to. I have a wish that i want to express. I do want to outlive my kids. It does not mean i want to go early. I do not want my kids to have a bad life because my life was extended so long. Technically i am a baby boomer. It seems to me we are going to be babies to the end. We will impoverish the next generation, after we inherited a very good time from the greatest generation. You younger kids, we are not the greatest generation. Our fathers and uncles saved you. I was thinking, i happen to know like my one uncle is in the south pacific. I guess yo