Christians in Kerala are debating whether churches should reopen on June 8 as the Centre has suggested or whether they should wait until the spread of the coronavirus eases.

The issue is not about faith and prayer but whether the clergy are needed as middlemen.

The question has drawn a wider audience with Dr Valson Thampu, the former principal of St. Stephen’s College in Delhi and now a resident of Kerala, writing an open letter urging Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan not to heed the demand of bishops to throw open the doors of churches.

While the argument of the Church is that there is no harm in permitting churches to resume service if commercial activities can be allowed, Thampu wants the state to wait.

“I wish places of worship remain closed for a whole year, so that people can be detoxified, de-addicted and made to live a more rational life,” Thampu told The Telegraph.

He urged the Kerala government to keep up the good work in the battle against the coronavirus.

“I am not a Marxist. But I must laud the (Left Democratic Front) Kerala government that has done an outstanding job in partnership with the people. Let us not spoil it by reopening churches,” the theologian, who lives in Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram, said.

Chief minister Vijayan had held separate meetings with religious leaders from the Christian, Hindu and Muslim communities on Thursday to get their opinion on the reopening of places of worship.

“Christian worship is heavily congregational. Can you imagine 500 or more people sitting together for two hours, singing, repeating the liturgy — all the while spreading the virus?” Thampu asked. “Ultimately, it boils down only to money. Their entire income comes from the worshippers who are dependent on the priests.”

Thampu questioned the logic of the churches proposing to limit the number of worshippers to 50 during services. “They need a 60-hour Sunday to conduct 30 services if a church has 1,500 members,” he said.

According to him, the majority of Christians have adjusted well to life without church services. “I believe, ironically though, that this pandemic has helped people liberate from their abject dependence on the priestly class,” Thampu said.

“I rejoiced when congregational services were suspended because for the first time in history it became possible for people to sit at home and worship without middlemen,” he added. “I am in regular touch with over 30,000 Christians. Not one of them felt any less Christian for not going to church. In fact they like it this way.”

The clergy, however, are eagerly waiting for the resumption of church services.

“Why keep places of worship closed when commercial establishments are opening?” asked Father Christu Das, the Vicar-General of the Latin Catholic Diocese of Neyyatinkara.

He objected to the condition that excluded people above 65 years, considered vulnerable to the coronavirus, from attending church services.

“It’s the elderly who are more devout and in need of church services more than the youth. Perhaps we can follow the order not to allow children below 10 years of age,” he told this newspaper. “We are ready to limit the number of worshippers to 50 and follow the Covid-19 guidelines.”

“Churches will get thermal scanners. Washing hands, hand sanitising, social distancing — we will take all precautions,” Father Das said.

He didn’t think much of Thampu’s observations. “Of late he (Thampu) has become very negative about everything the Church does. I can see our people yearning to return to church,” Father Das said.

The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council is willing to accept the age bar. “My 85-year-old mother has been saying ‘they took away my Christ’ when churches closed after the lockdown. Since the church is so dear to them, we can even get the parish priest to conduct a prayer at home,” said Father Varghese Vallikkat, deputy secretary-general of the council.

“It is with immense anxiety we are taking the responsibility of reopening churches. It’s like a sword hanging over our heads. But we can handle it at the parish levels,” Father Vallikkat said. The Joint Christian Council headed by Felix J. Pulludan has outlined the threats in the time of the pandemic and urged Vijayan not to fall for the “irrational demand”.

It was this council that had defended nuns who had been victimised for speaking out against the rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

“I agree with Valson Thampu that the only reason why the clergy want churches to reopen is about the money and the power,” Pulludan said. “The people are slowly realising they can communicate directly with God and don’t need a mediator. That’s why this sense of urgency to reopen churches.”