How do they know the voices in their heads are actually God and not something else? Like maybe voices in their heads…
Look, if it was just the religious fanatics being put in harm’s way I’d say let 'em, but their religious freedom ends where it starts to hurt other people. In this case, holding jammed in-person services puts more than the religious fanatics at risk. Therefore, they do not have a right to do that. Especially since there are alternatives.
These pastors are demanding people show up in person out of greed and/or arrogance.
“Pastor” implies a person leading a flock, or a congregation. A pastor is in the position to interact with more people than your average citizen.
Pastors also comfort the sick and bury the dead.
One Bible Belt pastor of a mega church stated he had “superior” immunity, and COVID-19 wasn’t a personal worry. He even bragged about his laying of hands to pray with a diagnosed COVID-19 patient who was a member of a congregation.
Dead Southern pastors are a unique group who will no doubt spell grief for contact tracers.
~VOW
In which god don’t you believe? Humans have invented so many gods, it’s hard to figure which to ignore and which to offer blood sacrifices to. We know deities exist within human consciousness but we have no objective evidence of any elsewhere. Since our deities are internal, the voices in our heads must be holy. Always obey the voices, right?
Voices in their heads direct leaders and believers. Almost as good as insightful intestines! Channeled voices say “gather” with a subtext of “spread contagion” so they do. The reasons for divine desires may escape human comprehension. What a pickle!
I recall an old UG comix bit where the voices in Snappy Sammy Smoot’s head tell him to commit murder. He’s caught. As he’s strapped into the electric chair we see the moral of the tale: If you can’t deal with reality, reality will surely deal with YOU. Reject science and find out the hard way how the world functions. Wishing won’t work.
I’d have to say if dozens of pastors died from highway crashes all around the same time, that would be more than slightly newsworthy. The same can be said for dozens of bakers dyiing around the same time, dozens of streetsweepers dying around the same time.
This. My church and I’m sure many others in the area have been streaming their services for weeks now. I don’t frequent church anymore, but I think this is awesome, and I hope it’s something they continue to offer even after COVID-19 subsides, especially when a lot of the congregation is elderly and particularly vulnerable during flu season.
I find it pretty sick that some people are delighting in these deaths from COVID-19, especially if those same people are making the claim that everyone needs to social distance and how we’re all affected, whether we are coming into close contact with infected individuals or not. Seems pretty two-faced to me.
Since this is a difficult time for many people. I don’t have a problem with the propagation of a positive message for those who want to hear that. I think most religious leaders have been responsible. I wouldn’t have a problem with a service given to people isolating in their cars.
A few pastors went out of their way to overlook public safety concerns. This is very much a minority of people, and it is sad they put others at risk. Some world leaders have made similar pronouncements, which may be more concerning. But I feel nothing but sympathy for innocent people who, to some extent, were taken advantage of. I hope this thing improves soon and doesn’t recur.
The anti-science attitude is a big problem in the US today, and if some anti-science people become examples of how stupidity can kill you, it works for me. The idiot protesters are just as good examples as idiot pastors. Religion has nothing to do with it, anti-science does.
Unfortunately these idiots may also kill people who are innocent.
And hooray for pastors setting up online services to protect their congregation. Why do you think God invented Zoom anyway?
Zoom was created by Coyote and Loki to trick humans. Jehovah spies on everyone with that all-seeing eye - a peeping Tom. A beneficent deity would promote telepathic services so its followers would survive. The rule of successful parasites: Don’t kill your host.
But I digress. I doubt most pastors, priests, and other sky pilots (cowboys called them “fire escapes”) are total morons. Most probably want followers to survive and continue with offerings. Alas, passing a biology class may not be required for (self) ordination. “Science works!” is a hard-sell to many, who are juicy prospects for infection. A deity that doesn’t save its believers may run out of believers eventually. Is faith Darwinian?
People who don’t have a degree in biology should really just categorically shut the hell up about evolution except to ask questions.
Also, take is doubly bad because of all the people they probably infected. If you think the parishioners also deserve the Darwinist cull, think of the others they indirectly infected.
I get the schadenfreude… I really, really get this temptation… but right now it’s not appropriate in most cases (I would consider an exception on a case-by-case basis for senior officials of the Trump administration).