Christian singer’s protest rallies are ‘not welcome’ in Los Angeles, leaders say

A series of “Let Us Worship” protest rallies planned Wednesday and Thursday in Los Angeles are “not welcome” as the city fights a COVID-19 surge, officials and faith leaders say.

Sean Feucht, a Christian singer and worship leader at Bethel Church in Redding, California, has planned events on Skid Row on Wednesday night and in Azusa on Thursday to advocate against coronavirus restrictions, a Facebook post says.

Those events have left many concerned about possible coronavirus spread.

“It’s a super-spreader event,” Jenna Kyle with the Poor People’s Campaign told KCBS. “They’re coming in with no masks, no social distance. They haven’t done either in their past events.“

“We are saying to Sean, ‘You are not welcome,’” said Pete White with the L.A. Community Action Network, according to the station.

Feucht, who has not responded to requests for comment from multiple news organizations, posted a response on Twitter calling the KCBS story a “hit piece.”

“Doing the works of Jesus (heal the sick, feed the poor, cast our demons) is ALL we’re called to do!” Feucht wrote.

Feucht accuses politicians and social media of “silencing the faithful, banning our voices, and outright attacking our God-given right to declare His goodness” on his Let Us Worship site.

“Don’t let them silence you,” the site says. Feucht has held rallies protesting coronavirus restrictions across the nation.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell of New Orleans condemned a “Let Us Worship” event held by Feutch in her city in November, WDSU reported.

“Neither the NOPD or the city in any way condone this reckless behavior in our city,” Cantrell said, according to the station. “The images circulating online, I was furious.”

Cantrell also asked that Lauren Daigle, a Christian singer who appeared at the November rally, not be included in a New Year’s Eve television special representing Louisiana, although Daigle and producers say she was never slated to appear anyway, McClatchy News reported.

In Los Angeles, local officials and pastors say they fear lax coronavirus precautions at Feucht’s planned rallies will worsen a coronavirus surge that already has Southern California hospitals in dire straits.

Some hospitals are housing patients in gift shops and cafeterias while others turn away ambulances, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“The problem we’re facing is even prior to the stay-at-home order, people come into the community and say they’re bringing resources but what they’re bringing is the disease,” said Pastor Stephen “Cue” Jn-Marie of the Church Without Walls in Skid Row, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“This is a public health crisis and I don’t think you need to be loving Jesus in L.A. right now in this manner,” Kyle told KCBS.

Asked if the city would try to police the events, a spokesman said Mayor Eric Garcetti asked people to wear face masks and practice social distancing, the Los Angeles Times reported.

More than 82 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide with more than 1.7 million deaths as of Dec. 30, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 19 million confirmed cases with more than 338,000 deaths.

This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Christian singer’s protest rallies are ‘not welcome’ in Los Angeles, leaders say."