Let Us Prey

Right-wing pastor Rodney Howard-Browne is not about to cancel church or prevent congregants from shaking hands because they are not a bunch of "pansies." pic.twitter.com/C36kBIEWqF

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 15, 2020

I'm not sure if this bravado is more like snake handling, poison-gargling, or just a bit of fire-walking, but I'm also thinking that the pastor doesn't entirely know what it's more like, himself, he just knows it feels good, so he's doing it.

There's comfort, after all, in believing one's community and faith is bigger than something like germ theory, or the advice that "liberal media" gives:

“One pastor said half of his church is ready to lick the floor, to prove there’s no actual virus,” an Arkansas pastor told me. “In your more politically conservative regions, closing is not interpreted as caring for you. It’s interpreted as liberalism.”

Liberalism, science, being a "pansy"--it's all the same thing.

Downtown Nashville is undefeated. pic.twitter.com/BFIOzukFct

— Janna Abraham (@SportsPundette) March 15, 2020

"Undefeated." Fuck yeah. These folks have shown the terrorist viruses that they can...transmit contagions amongst themselves freely. Because Nashville is a resort for bachelor and bachelorette parties nationwide, this congregation is likely to disperse potential corona infection across a far greater area than just Downtown Nashville. This isn't showing defiance, but ignorance.

Edir Macedo, one of Brazil's most powerful evangelical bishops, billionaire businessman, and the founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, says coronavirus is joint conspiracy by Satan and the mainstream media to induce panic. https://t.co/Ig43iZPjFV

— Oliver Stuenkel (@OliverStuenkel) March 15, 2020

It seems like there are definitely people who feel like the right religion, the right politics, or the right patent nostrum will certainly ward off what is either a total hoax or a Communist bioweapon developed by North Korea, George Soros, and the ghost of Saul Alinsky. Right-wing media has done a tremendous disservice by backing up the paranoids, charlatans and grifters, amongst which, I would have to include our current White House occupant. None of this is practical or useful or reality-based. It's like faking eschewing panic, but panicking by other means.

Today was supposedly some kind of Day of Prayer. I don't have a problem with the "pray" part. It's the predators amidst all of this that really bother me. Squaring up against a plague or encouraging others to isn't a clout-winner. It's violence. We need to be looking out for one another, acknowledging we're all in the same boat. We can gather tomorrow. We can let those who know and study do their thing. But in the meanwhile, for the faithful, I would say: is not written "you shall not put the Lord your God to the test"? For the faithless, I would say, much of faith is a castle made on sand.

Me? I believe in germ theory, evolution, and washing my hands. I avoid other people as my religion. I am no fun at parties. I wish people would just pay attention to details instead of dead-certain loudmouths.