Catholic League president Bill Donohue has censured New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his “tyrannical edict” targeting Orthodox Jews against the coronavirus.
“We know religious institutions have been a problem,” Cuomo had threatened. “If you’re not willing to live with these rules, then I’m going to close the synagogues,” in reference to an uptick in coronavirus infections in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in New York. The governor also warned that he would deploy the police to enforce his edict. If there are too many people entering a house of worship, he said, “the state police officer is down the block, and he will come help you.”
Cuomo plans to “shut down all churches, synagogues and schools — private, religious, and public — in an attempt to quell the spread of the disease,” Donohue notes, calling Cuomo’s autocratic language is “chilling.”
There are two major problems with Cuomo’s order, Donohue added. First, “his authority to execute it is in serious doubt” and second, “his decision to blanket Catholic churches and schools—where there are no problems—is discriminatory” and “a profound injustice” to the Catholic community. “Why is he penalizing Catholic institutions, which are not a problem, but is allowing commercial establishments in these same neighborhoods to conduct business as usual?”
“The man is a wreck,” Donohue concludes, and his “politicization of Covid-19 is a national disgrace.”