Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[mordant]

Here's hoping he doesn't harm himself or his audiences.

My niece's husband the pastor responded to being hospitalized for a week with Covid, from a super spreader event involving himself and his sons and a few other people performing a virtual church service, by re-opening his church for in-person worship. Because "the Lord's work must go on".

At least Julep's brother isn't in a position of leadership where people look up to him for wisdom.

I have zero sympathy for them OR their flock. I don't wish more trouble on them; I wouldn't have to if I wanted to. They're wishing it on themselves.

I've been to church two times in my entire life and that was two times too many.    What I get from church goers is that church is more of a social activity than anything else.  The god part of it is almost superfluous.  It's more about being with friends and chatting about stuff.  Covid keeps them from their tribal get together.

That is true of many Christians, but to the evangelical community of which my niece and her father (my oldest surviving brother) are part of, the "god part" is the central part, and church leadership either takes it seriously or puts a lot of energy into pretending to do so. The social aspect is still important and for many members the piety is performance art, but in the really devout ones, practicing the faith reaches high levels of delusion indeed. One aspect of this is the mythos of the "victorious Christian life", where everything enjoys god's blessing when you're right with him, and by extension, when things go badly, you're NOT right with him. In that context, this pastor just needed to triple down on his faith to prove that he was triumphant over the virus.