BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's attorney general is calling on Governor John Bel Edwards to begin lifting stay-at-home restrictions on churches.

AG Jeff Landry sent a letter to the governor's office Thursday asking for him to loosen the restrictions on places of worship before the end of the stay-at-home order on May 15. 

"As other states begin reopening and unrest in the Legislature continues, I believe many faith-based congregations will begin to meet with or without guidance," Landry's letter read in part. "We are be better served by taking a proactive approach by publishing reopening guidelines that take a phased approach to faith services restarting. Without guidance based on best practices in place, this could be disastrous."

The attorney general said his request included a proposal of guidelines for opening churches while attempting to minimize the risk of exposure to the coronavirus.