Tuesday, April 7, 2020

More Dangerous Idiocy: Many Churches Are Holding Services Despite the Risk of Spreading COVID-19




“Louisiana Pastor Tony Spell, who refuses to close his Life Tabernacle Church and is currently represented by attorney and alleged child molester Roy Moore, is holding multiple services today, putting countless people in harm’s way.

“He’s already been charged with six misdemeanors, but none of that is getting in the way of cashing in on Jesus and his own supposed martyrdom during a pandemic.

“Spell, 42, who plans to hold three services at his 1,000-member Life Tabernacle megachurch in a Baton Rouge suburb on Palm Sunday, has defied state orders against assembling in large groups…

“‘The church is the last force resisting the Antichrist, let us assemble regardless of what anyone says,’ he said. Spell appeared on CNN this morning and said he planned to bring in 27 busloads of people for today’s services.

“He says in that interview that he ‘believes the science’ — uh-huh — but that he has ‘a command from God, and there are no governing bodies that can tell us we cannot worship and gather freely.’ He sees this as a religious freedom issue, not a my-pastor-has-created-a-death-trap issue.

“More people will suffer because they foolishly chose to accept Spell’s version of Christianity. And unfortunately, their theological virus will make them more likely to catch the coronavirus, which will then spread throughout their families, their communities, and beyond. We are all worse off because of their religious delusions.”






“…Almost nine out of 10 churches have closed. Those that have not are a small minority. A significant minority, it is true, but a small minority. By all means criticize them, as I have done, but do not scapegoat all Christians, or even all conservative Christians.

“We should be charitable, disregard the word almost, and go with a round nine out of 10 U.S. churches having been shuttered. How many churches does that leave?

“If the Christian Post is right, there are about 300,000 Protestant churches in the U.S., while Catholic ones number roughly 20,000. Ten percent of 320,000 is 32,000. That’s right: If [this] pro-Christian, don’t-blame-all-of us apologia is correct, thirty-two thousand churches are still open, with congregants prepared to become vectors of disease for the greater glory of God.

“[It] is technically correct that it is a ‘small minority’ — [though] similar to telling a man whose hands are ablaze that technically, only a small part of him is on fire and to focus on the bits that are not.”




1 comment:

  1. "Having some states lock down and some states not lock down is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool."

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