Pastor, Alpha Phi Alpha National Chaplain Offers Counsel On Reopening Churches

Durham, NC – Reverend Dr. Jonathan C. Augustine, National Chaplain, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Senior Pastor, St. Joseph AME Church (Durham, NC) is in a unique position to offer recommendations regarding the reopening and re-occupancy of Houses of Worship. As a religious leader and former law professor, Dr. Augustine penned an open letter on May 20 to Christian leaders, faith communities, and concerned citizens after a U.S. District Judge issued a temporary restraining order barring enforcement of  Gov. Roy Cooper’s prohibition against any more than 10-people gathering for indoor worship.

Dr. Augustine explains in the letter ‘how the church’s longstanding racial and socioeconomic divisions have once again manifested within partisan politics. These racial and socioeconomic divisions have created false narratives that embolden certain conservative and majority white, evangelical faith groups to publicly support positions adversely affecting minority communities.’

Accordingly, Dr. Augustine writes, considering the empirical data revealed during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the disproportionately adverse effect the pandemic has had on the African American community, he strongly recommends to: (1) debunk the politicization of well-reasoned, governmental shelter-in-place orders; and (2) urge members of populations that are disproportionately vulnerable to refrain from mass, in-person gatherings, including worship experiences, at the current time.

The open letter from Dr. Augustine was released the same day Durham Clergy United, a civic organization comprised of Durham, NC-based faith leaders, held a press conference to announce they would not reopen until conditions improve for the communities they serve.

Dr. Augustine offers his opinions, based on his professional and educational experience. In addition to serving as national chaplain and spiritual leader of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.—the oldest predominately black, intercollegiate fraternity in existence, boasting of past and present leaders like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., United States Ambassador Andrew Young, and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He also serves as senior pastor of St. Joseph AME Church in Durham, NC, a faith community founded in 1869 that has been the spiritual home of some of North Carolina’s most influential citizens, including John Hervey Wheeler, for whom Durham’s United States Courthouse is named, and John C. Merrick, one of the founders of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Well before earning his doctorate at Duke University in 2020 and serving St. Joseph, Dr. Augustine also earned a law degree at Tulane University and spent 15-years as an adjunct law professor.

He shared these qualifiers to emphasize that his point of analysis is far from a kneejerk reaction. It is instead contemplative, well-informed, and appreciative of the historical divisions that once again manifest within the church, as race and religion engage partisan politics.

READ FULL LETTER:  Augustine’s Open Letter (May 20, 2020) (1)