President Trump on Saturday claimed that states have been unfairly targeting Christians by not allowing religious gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic while suggesting that they won’t enforce the same rules with Muslims during Ramadan.
‘You know I just spoke with leaders and people that love mosques,’ the president said on Saturday.
‘They love mosques! And I’m all in favor of that.
‘But I would say that there could be a difference. And we’ll have to see what will happen.
‘Because I have seen a great disparity in this country. I’ve seen a great disparity.’
Trump on Saturday retweeted a post by a conservative author, Paul Sperry, who wrote: ‘Let’s see if authorities enforce the social-distancing orders for mosques during Ramadan (April 23 – May 23) like they did churches during Easter.’
President Trump (seen above at the White House on Saturday) said Democratic governors are biased against Christians and that he wonders if they will enforce social distancing guidelines on Muslims during Ramadan
Trump on Saturday retweeted a post by a conservative author who wrote: ‘Let see if authorities enforce the social-distancing orders for mosques during Ramadan (April 23 – May 23) like they did churches during Easter’
A reporter asked the president about the tweet. Trump was also asked if he believed that imams would encourage their congregants to disobey social distancing guidelines.
‘I just had a call with imams,’ Trump said.
‘I just had a call with ministers, rabbis. We had a tremendous call with the faith leaders.
‘No, I don’t think that at all. I am someone that believes in faith.
‘And it matters not what your faith is but our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently.
‘And they seem to think and I don’t know what happened with our country, but the Christian faith is treated much differently than it was, and I think it’s treated very unfairly.’
Trump also criticized Democratic members of Congress known as ‘the squad’ – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley – for what he called an ‘anti-Israel bent.’
‘The things that they say about Israel are so bad,’ Trump said. ‘And I can’t believe it.’
It is unclear what Israel has to do with social distancing by Muslims in the United States during Ramadan, though Trump has tried to make Israel a wedge issue in politics by accusing Democrats of anti-Israel animus.
Muslims participate in an outdoor prayer event at Masjid Aqsa-Salam mosque in New York City in this June 2018 file photo. This week marks the start of the holy month of Ramadan
Trump then said that Democrats ‘go after Christian churches but they don’t tend to go after mosques.’
The president then added: ‘And I don’t want them to go after mosques! But I do want to see what their event is.’
Ramadan, which begins sundown this Thursday, is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar.
During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat or drink between dawn and sunset.
Several states have sought to crack down on public gatherings in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
During this past Easter holiday, states including Kansas, Kentucky, and others banned worshippers from attending church services due to the risk of spreading the virus.
But Republicans and their supporters on the religious right accused Democratic lawmakers and governors of infringing on their constitutional right to freely worship.
A federal judge in Kansas issued a temporary restraining order late on Saturday night blocking Governor Laura Kelly’s executive order limiting the size of church gatherings to no more than 10 people.
US District Judge John Broomes, a Trump appointee, said that Kelly’s orders ‘expressly restrict religious activity.’
A federal judge on Saturday blocked executive orders issued by Kansas’ Democrat governor, Laura Kelly (seen above on Wednesday), banning religious gatherings over 10 people due to the coronavirus outbreak
Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued a statewide plan to order people into quarantine if they attend mass gatherings, including religious gatherings
Kelly said that coronavirus outbreaks in Kansas could be tied to five church gatherings which she claims resulted in six deaths and 80 infections.
In Kentucky, a Louisville church filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing Governor Andy Beshear, who like Kelly is a Democrat, of violating churchgoers’ constitutional rights.
The Maryville Baptist Church held an in-person church service on Easter Sunday in defiance of Beshear’s statewide ban on large gatherings during the coronavirus lockdown.
Beshear had warned that state police would record the license plates of churchgoers and inform them that they are to remain in quarantine for 14 days.
According to the lawsuit, Kentucky state police placed notices on the car windshields in the parking lot of the church.
The notices stated that health officials ‘will be contacting those associated with this vehicle with self-quarantine documents, including an agreement requiring this vehicle’s occupants and anyone in the household to self-quarantine for 14 days.’
‘Failure to sign or comply with the agreement may result in further enforcement measures,’ the notice stated.
Some worshippers stayed in their cars and listened to the service through loudspeakers that were set up near the parking lot.
The lawsuit indicates that the church plans to hold services this Sunday as well.
A federal judge has previously ruled that Louisville could not halt a local church’s Easter drive-in service.
In that case, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, has filed a brief that argues Beshear’s state order is written broadly enough to unconstitutionally ban drive-in services, as well.
In a previous brief in the Louisville case, Beshear has said his order doesn’t ban drive-thru church services, saying it is intended to “prohibit person-to-person interaction, not interactions where people remain in a vehicle.”
The state said Saturday that its death toll from the coronavirus has reached at least 144.
In all, there have been a total of more than 2,700 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since early March.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in a few weeks.
For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including life-threatening pneumonia.