Opening of churches for prayer and worship.

Churches and other religious buildings represent and speak the desire and commitment of its people to gather for prayer and worship.

Most churches across Scotland would be able to provide a safe space for its people and the local community for reflection and prayer.

Churches ought to be allowed to offer a place for worship, prayer and reflection as it is the very nature of what it means to be a church as all the community and social activities that churches do tend to come out of these practices and right now it feels that the state is overreaching by simply not allowing churches to be a place of hope and spiritual guidance to those who wish to come.

Most churches across the nation could easily have smaller services where social distance could be easily observed in a manageable and safe way for all involved.

The church and many other religious organizations should have been considered an essential service to our society, especially in a democratic country such as this one where people have conquered their right to make the choice to come or not to come to places of worship when they feel they need to.

I know a number of people who are seriously struggling with loneliness and places of worship could alleviate this issue and help people to heal emotionally and spiritually, as a result, alleviate the state from having to deal with hundreds and hundreds of mental health issue that will come up very soon.

In addition to that, some Christians practices require real people and not virtual people in order to be practised therefore people should be given the right to chose to come or not come to church. It does not seem appropriate to simply leave to the state to decide how and when people can cooperatively practice their faith.

Forbidding the churches to practice their desire for prayer and worship in groups "Small gathering" is wrong and opens up concerning the issue between the state given the right to govern on behalf of its people and but also the unquestionable right of its people to practice the religion of their choice.

Allow churches to function now as they have always played an important part in the history of this country and ought to allowed/invited to play an essential part in this time as we all want the nation to heal and get back on its feet.