CARL AZUZ, cnn 10 ANCHOR: How is COVID-19 affecting Holy Week? That's our first subject today on cnn 10. I'm Carl Azuz. And we're grateful to have you watching. Easter is this coming weekend on April 12th. It's the most significant holiday for the world's largest religion. More than 31 percent of the global population is Christian. There are several events leading up to Easter like Palm Sunday and Good Friday that make up Holy Week. This Wednesday evening is when the Jewish holiday of Passover begins. And the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan starts on April 23rd. But we're living in a historic time when people are being told or ordered not to gather in groups, not to celebrate holy events in the company of others.

Many churches have been empty for weeks, voluntarily holding their worship services online instead of in the buildings. Some states have allowed churches to remain open even with stay-at-home orders in place. And some have banned religious gatherings along with other events. But this has created tension in places like Tampa Bay, Florida and Baton Rouge, Louisiana where pastors have been arrested for holding services despite stay-at-home orders. When Baton Rouge's Life Tabernacle Church held services on Sunday for 1,200 people, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said it was quote "grossly irresponsible", adding that people sitting in close proximity for an hour or more makes the spread of coronavirus more likely.
Reverend Tony Spell who leads the church, says the right to worship freely doesn't come from the government. It comes from God. And his attorney told the Rueters news agency that churchgoers stayed at least six feet from each other.
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