Evangelical Pastor Accused Of Spreading The Coronavirus
From February 17th to February 21th 2020, evangelical French Christians gathered to pray and fast in the church of La Porte Ouverte in Mulhouse. This gathering was wrongly accused in the French media of being the beginning of contamination and dissemination of the coronavirus, leading to the stigmatization of evangelicals and threats. The pastor of the Evangelical church apologized for not being more informed, but there was no lockdown in place, as this happened at the beginning of the pandemic.
The newspaper "Le Point" blamed the religious gathering in an article starting with the headline: "How an evangelical pastor spread coronavirus in the Hautes-Alpes". Moreover, on March 17th, the perfect of the Grand Est and Bas-Rhin regions Josiane Chevalier wrote:
"The epidemic started from an evangelical rally that took place in the Haut-Rhin, with more than 3,000 people and a failure to respect the barrier measures: in short, everything that should not be done. We are paying a high price for this failure to take basic measures into account."
But the organizers did not break any regulations given by the government related to "stage one" of the pandemic. Gatherings of more than 5.000 people were not forbidden until one week after (February 29th) the end of the evangelical Christian gathering. Furthermore, Nathalie Schnoebelen, head of communication for La Porte Ouverte remarked: "During the week of the rally, Emmanuel Macron was present in Mulhouse with people around him without practicing barrier gestures." Moreover, he attended the Paris Agricultural Show on February 21, where countless people gathered.
Sources: Le Point, France Info
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