#Argentina pastor turns church into a bar in lockdown protest

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Argentinian congress at dusk during the lockdown
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An evangelical pastor is defying Argentina’s ban on church services for over 10 people by turning his church into a bar.

Bar tables were set up inside the Comunidad Redentor evangelical church in the city of San Lorenzo, and pastors, who were dressed as waiters, would carry bibles on their trays in a mock service to get around Argentina’s coronavirus lockdown, which prohibits more than 10 people in the house of worship, according to the Guardian,

“We are standing here today dressed like this, carrying a tray, because it seems this is the only way we can serve the word of God,” the pastor, Daniel Cattaneo, dressed as a waiter, said as he opened the “worship bar.”

Argentina, which has recorded 28,764 cases and 785 deaths — mostly located in Buenos Aires — is in a staged reopening. The province of Santa Fe has a very low number of cases and has reopened bars but churches are still subjugated to rules of 10 people or less.

“We want to exercise our constitutional right to practice our faith,” Cattaneo told the Guardian. “Bars can open, shops can open, why are they discriminating against us?”

Cattaneo also announced a “drive-in” worship to circumvent the ban.