Gerald O. Glenn, the bishop of the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Chesterfield, Virginia urged his congregants to ignore social distancing guidelines prescribed by health authorities to combat the Coronavirus.
He said he would continue preaching his views “unless I’m in jail or the hospital.”
He died just before Easter after being exposed to the Coronavirus.
The Bishop’s wife has the virus as well.
This example alone should be a clue to those fringe science-denying loonies mostly living in the Trump Zone and Fox Island that this is a serious public health emergency that can touch anyone.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Protestors, some egged on by fringe Trump science-denying cultist disciples, in Red and Blue led states like Ohio and Michigan are walking the streets, blocking auto traffic and ignoring social distance guidelines, protesting the stay at home orders and demanding that their Governors (DeWine in Ohio and Whitmer in Michigan) open up their local economies and restore their “freedom.”
Even in Arizona with a Republican Governor and GOP controlled legislature, fringe nut job protestors will gather at the State Capitol on April 20 at “High Noon” to demand the reopening of the Grand Canyon State’s society and economy.
There are even lawmakers like Indiana Congressional Representative Trey Hollingsworth and Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick who have commented that it is better that more people die in order to save the economy.
The people who organize these protests and the elected officials who put profits over lives need to be ignored or better yet, voted out so they never officially serve the public again.
Everyone wants the economy to reopen.
Everyone wants to be able to leave their homes when they want.
Everyone wants to be able to go to work.
Everyone wants to be able to go to the movies or concerts or the ball game with their families and friends.
While everyone wants life to return to normal, it is important that society not prematurely open and potentially create a second wave of the pandemic, needlessly endangering more people.
The people protesting should realize that. The irresponsible science-denying Trump Zone and Fox Island fringe advocates egging them on should know better as well.
To those people that plan on marching; please stop and do not do this. Ignore the fringe reactionaries telling you to disregard social distancing that will potentially endanger yourselves and others.
You will save lives (maybe your own) if you listen to the common-sense health guidelines, stay home, and serve the greater good.
Do the right thing.
I had a teacher years ago who told the class that early Christians hated the Romans so much they refused to bathe.
Romans were famous for their baths and Romans killed Jesus and they didn’t want to be seen doing anything Roman.
He said this was a contributing factor in the high mortality rates of various plagues and diseases throughout medieval times.
Back then, Christians didn’t know about germs and viruses.
Today’s Christians know about germs and viruses.
As it is written in the Book of Matthew;
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name whatever that don’t put coins in the collection plate.”
This is a reprisal of the corporate-funded Tea Party movement in 2010. The anti-government, anti-science, anti-expert, anti-intellectual Trumpists are a public health threat to this country. The Daily Beast reports, “Trumpists Urging People to Leave Their Homes to Own the Libs”, https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-loyalists-and-allies-urge-defiance-of-coronavirus-safety-measures
(Excerpts)
A protest movement is taking hold targeting states that have extended social-distancing rules, closed schools, and restricted access to large religious gatherings. And it’s being fed by loyalists and political allies of President Donald Trump.
[It] has prompted Republican lawmakers and supporters of the president to publicly call for Americans to defy their local orders, claiming they infringe on constitutional rights. On Monday, Richard Grenell, acting director of the Office of National Intelligence and the U.S. ambassador to Germany, posted a photo of the Bill of Rights on Instagram with a title “Signed Permission Slip to Leave Your House.” Below the post, in the caption, Grenell wrote, “Love this!” A reporter tweeted the post after its publishing saying, “Seems the top US intelligence chief ADNI @RichardGrenell isn’t a fan of the stay at home orders.” Grenell responded, “‘Seems’ Grenell is a fan of the Constitution to me.”
Grenell’s post foreshadows a major political battle line on the horizon. Republican operatives say the burgeoning movement against coronavirus restrictions could end up stressing an already heavily stressed body politic even further, with conservative activists challenging their governors in increasingly dramatic fashion.
The open acts of defiance aren’t just being embraced by fringe activists mobilized through social media posts.
The public demonstrations of frustration and resistance have begun to draw parallels to the Tea Party protests that popped up during the early months of Barack Obama’s presidency. The circumstances are far different—a reactionary movement to bank bailouts and the first African-American president versus resentment towards strict public health guidelines. But the theme of individualism versus statism is a through line that GOP operatives believe could be similarly galvanizing on the right.