There is clear agreement among scientists and doctors concerning how to slow down the virus. Unfortunately, it requires shutting down large swaths of the economy, closing businesses, schools, entertainment. We must also change social habits, emphasize social distancing, hand-washing, sterilization of surfaces and limit contact among people. This is the prescription for an epidemic and is proven to work. It is necessary and based upon best practices and scientific evidence.
Salon reports to us that such advantageous steps meet roadblocks when they come up against the mindset of the religious far-right, precisely because these people distrust science. They prefer trusting prayer and going about things all naturally – like death, for example, people die all naturally, too.
Jerry Falwell Jr., the shamelessly greedy president of Liberty University, has spent weeks downplaying the coronavirus threat, accusing the media of wildly exaggerating it [1] to “destroy the American economy” and of course to damage Donald Trump. While nearly every university and college in the country has shut down their campuses and moved to online teaching to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Falwell seems determined [1] to keep Liberty open.
Please to be fcking off now.
As we have been saying for over a month now, they can open their little economies to their hearts’ content, and yet no one is going to a movie, no one’s eating at Bubba’s Fish Camp, going to the mall, and no smart person is going to their mega-church, which … I guess will be full.
“I am writing a letter to pastors on the duty to continue church assemblies, even in the midst of these trying times,” Moore wrote in an open letter [2], adding on Twitter [3] that “churches are closed by tyrants who pander fear in the place of faith in God.”
Yes, yes they are. When churches are closed during normal times, there is usually a tyrant behind it. But when it is closed as a part of a public health emergency, they are trying to save that congregation. I would love to ask Roy Moore this: “If your church was engulfed in flames and the fire department was outside saying that the roof might fall – would call the fire department tyrants, attempting to put fear in the place of faith in God?”
This is no different.
And then there’s Hobby Lobby, which likes to think of itself as a church, and its fanatically religious owners, David and Barbara Green. They are utilizing the advice that came to Barbara during a prayer:
His reason? His wife, Barbara Green, prayed about it and decided to focus instead on “profound words to remind us that He’s in control.” Those words were “Guide, Guard and Groom,” though the P-word, “profit,” may also play a role.
Hmmm, the advice of Dr. Fauci, world-renowned epidemiologist and physician, or Barbara Green, wife of Hobby Lobby owner David Green, who might be thinking mostly “green.” Tough call.
Not.
I know which one I’m picking. And to the extent that I’m religious, I am pretty certain the choice God wants me to pick. I would sure hate to think of going up to the pearly gates early because I needed some yarn and finger paint for my daughter, whing that I died: “I had heard that Barbara Green had prayed and …”
And getting the answer from God himself:
“I can’t believe I wasted a perfectly good brain on this one.”
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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom