Omnibus "religious people who think they control the virus" thread.

[Darren_Garrison]

There are plenty of them to go around, but the one that finally caused me to start this is Kenneth Copeland, who commands the virus by calling it "doggone."
(This thread may also encompass religious people who know why God sent the virus, and religious people who still think that it is Fake News.)

[Skywatcher]

Let’s not leave out those who believe God will protect them from the virus, as Ken Ham evidently did before deciding to close the Ark.

[QuickSilver]

May the good lord call them home. Let us pray…

[Euphonious_Polemic]

Here’s an article about 500 idiots who crammed into a church service in Louisiana

These people are endangering human life. They are equivalent to drunk drivers - they don’t know who they might kill and don’t care.

[bobot]

Well, you gotta hand it to the Pope, who seems to understand why he’s one of only two people in St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis Prays In Empty St. Peter's Square In Hauntingly Moving Images

[Darren_Garrison]

Here is an Indian Sikh pastor who caught it at a Holy Moly festival and brought it home with him.

[running_coach]

@QuickSilver

May the good lord call them home. Let us pray…

We’re already down one idiot.

A Virginia man who downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus as merely the media “pumping out fear” has died after contracting the virus.

Landon Spradlin, 66, a pastor and traveling musician, died on Wednesday, March 25, at a hospital in North Carolina after testing positive for COVID-19.

As first reported by Patch, nearly two weeks before his death Spradlin shared a meme on his Facebook page suggesting the media “can manipulate your life.”

[kanicbird]

God did warn us that 4 of His horses of the Apocalypse got out of the barn, if we do see them we should let Him know so His Son can come here and get them back to heaven.

Or something like that.

Carry on.

[Czarcasm]

Coachella Valley Catholic Church stays open:

Worshipers filled St. Louis Catholic Church in Cathedral City on Sunday for Mass despite a warning from Riverside County’s top health official to avoid large gatherings amid coronavirus concerns.
They said they weren’t acting in defiance; they were seeking comfort.
“We believe in God and he’ll help protect us against coronavirus,” Cathedral City resident Jacqueline Gomez, 18, said as she arrived with her sister and parents.

[nearwildheaven]

From a slightly different angle, alcoholic beverages are illegal in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and a rumor started that drinking methanol, which is an ingredient in antifreeze and is highly toxic in extremely small amounts, would cure or prevent COVID. At least 300 people are known to have died as a result.

Hundreds dead in Iran from drinking methanol amid fake reports it cures...

[The_Stainless_Steel_Rat]

@Czarcasm

[Coachella Valley Catholic Church stays open:

Worshipers filled St. Louis Catholic Church in Cathedral City on Sunday for Mass despite a warning from Riverside County’s top health official to avoid large gatherings amid coronavirus concerns. They said they weren’t acting in defiance; they were seeking comfort. “We believe in God and he’ll help protect us against coronavirus,” Cathedral City resident Jacqueline Gomez, 18, said as she arrived with her sister and parents.

](Coronavirus update: Sunday church goes on despite warnings)

And GOD said: “Well, I did send all those doctor warnings…”

(based on this old joke: [Spoiler]A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help.

Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I can save you.”

The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me.”

So the rowboat went on.

Then a motorboat came by. "The fellow in the motorboat shouted, “Jump in, I can save you.”

To this the stranded man said, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”

So the motorboat went on.

Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, “Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety.”

To this the stranded man again replied, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”

So the helicopter reluctantly flew away.

Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, “I had faith in you but you didn’t save me, you let me drown. I don’t understand why!”

To this God replied, “I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”[/Spoiler]

[bobot]

@running_coach

We’re already down one idiot.

"As first reported by Patch, nearly two weeks before his death Spradlin shared a meme on his Facebook page suggesting the media “can manipulate your life.”

And publish your obituary!

[Monty]

@bobot

"As first reported by Patch, nearly two weeks before his death Spradlin shared a meme on his Facebook page suggesting the media “can manipulate your life.”

And publish your obituary!

Did the obit include an editorial “Hah!”?

[susan]

Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too

So Mr. Falwell — a staunch ally of President Trump and an influential voice in the evangelical world — reopened the university last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.

Of the 1,900 students who initially returned last week to campus, Mr. Falwell said more than 800 had left. But he said he had “no idea” how many students had returned to off-campus housing.

“If I were them, I’d be more nervous,” he added, because they live in more crowded conditions.

For critical weeks in January and February, the nation’s far right dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic. Mr. Falwell derided it as an “overreaction” driven by liberal desires to damage Mr. Trump.

[Euphonious_Polemic]

The thing is, the religious right wing can pivot from:

“The virus is a fake liberal hoax designed to damage Dear Leader Trump”

to

“Dear Leader Trump knew all along how serious the virus was, and he was stopped by the horrible liberal secularists from helping us”

And they can do this in the space of about two minutes. Without a doubt in their mind that they have had the second thought all along.

[running_coach]

@Euphonious_Polemic

The thing is, the religious right wing can pivot from:

“The virus is a fake liberal hoax designed to damage Dear Leader Trump”

to

“Dear Leader Trump knew all along how serious the virus was, and he was stopped by the horrible liberal secularists from helping us”

And they can do this in the space of about two minutes. Without a doubt in their mind that they have had the second thought all along.

And they can do this in the space of about .00002 seconds.
FTFY.

[Atamasama]

@Euphonious_Polemic

These people are endangering human life. They are equivalent to drunk drivers - they don’t know who they might kill and don’t care.

I haven’t heard that analogy but it’s a good one.

Basically some people think that they are willing to take the risk but don’t realize that they are also forcing others to take that risk.

[Darren_Garrison]

Crossposted from a different thread, another dead preacher thought:

“We’re not able to break bread, sit down and eat with each other because Caesar is mandating how we conduct ourselves using the pretext of this virus to be able to conduct our lives and run our lives for us,” he continued.

He then began listing various discussions and conspiracy theories that have been circulating online and in discussion groups about the virus.

“Now, here’s a theory. It was brought to my attention that this virus thing, people die from the flu more than they’ve died from this virus. In my opinion, death is death. I don’t care what it’s by. But I listened and they say well, it’s something that’s come up. And now everything is being shut down, borders are being closed, and they’re gonna come up with a vaccine because they are keeping everybody away from each other just so that they can install martial law,” Hampton said.

“They’re gonna come up with a vaccine and in that vaccine everybody is gonna have to take it … and inside of that vaccine there’s going to be some type of electronic computer device that’s gonna put some type of chip in you and maybe even have some mood, mind-altering circumstances … and they’re saying that the chip would be the mark of the beast,” he continued.

He then noted that some people have even been saying that the coronavirus is a sign of the last days before urging Christians not to get caught up in the “paranoia” surrounding the virus.

[Voyager]

@Skywatcher

Let’s not leave out those who believe God will protect them from the virus, as Ken Ham evidently did before deciding to close the Ark.

Since these people think God will cure them, let’s make sure they are at the end of the line for ventilators.

I wonder if the Darwin Award people can do a mass awarding.

[KarlGauss]

The fundamentalists in Pakistan know how to handle things:

And the extremist clerics who often heckle or march against the civilian government, with the tacit approval of the military, are refusing to help. They largely ignored Mr. Khan’s call to limit Friday prayer gatherings. And even after the military deployed to try to enforce a lockdown, several clerics made videos that went viral in recent days, urging Pakistanis to come back to the mosques to worship.

To avoid mosques on Fridays would only invite God’s wrath at a time when people need his mercy, the clerics warned.

“We cannot skip Friday prayers because of fears of coronavirus,” said Shabbir Chand, a trader who attended a packed service in Karachi, the country’s biggest city. “Instead, we should gather in even larger numbers in mosques to pray to God to protect us from this fatal disease.

From a frightening NYT article (paywalled or use up a free view).

ETA: And in a nation with teeming, crowded urban centres, wall to wall poverty, and very limited healthcare. The mind reels.