Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 4, 2020 / 14:32 pm
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that ongoing protests in the city merit exceptions to coronavirus regulations, while religious services do not. The mayor's remarks have drawn criticism from New York's archdiocese.
"When you see a nation, an entire nation simultaneously grappling with an extraordinary crisis seeded in 400 years of American racism, I'm sorry, that is not the same question as the understandably aggrieved store owner or the devout religious person who wants to go back to services," de Blasio said at a June 2 press conference, while defending his policy of allowing mass protests while continuing to restrict religious gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday, Ed Mechmann, director of public policy for the Archdiocese of New York, said the mayor's policy shows that religious liberty is now considered a low priority in the city.
"It is clear that in the eyes of our government officials, the politically preferred viewpoint of anti-racism is favored and allowed, while the unpopular one of religious worship is belittled and denigrated," Mechmann wrote on the archdiocesan website June 3.