We don’t mock deaths. Ever.

We do however point out how dangerous the message from the White House and the anti-science bent to the Right-wing can be.

According to The Christian Post, Pastor Ronnie Hampton of a church in Shreveport Louisiana called New Vision Community church has died of Covid-19. It was only one week ago that Hampton called Coronavirus “not that big a deal,” and a test of the faithful.

Days before his death, he told supporters in at least two videos on social media, including one from his hospital bed, that Christians should not be afraid of the coronavirus and perhaps God was just using his infection to help him “get a little rest” or would use it to spread the Gospel.

“This virus that is out now, look at what it’s doing. It’s shutting down everything, which means that the physical connection of Christians is being ripped apart. We’re not able to fellowship. We’re not able to love each other. We’re not able to greet each other with a handshake or a hug. We’re not able to be in close proximity of each other,” Hampton said in a Facebook Live broadcast exactly one week before his death.

He meant well, he truly did. He just didn’t know better. So did two other pastors of evangelical churches that have already died. (See link above).

But decades of questioning science and putting the church above anything else in life, including one’s own life, has led to a community that is now particularly susceptible to the disease. (I am differentiating between “God” and “church” as they are not the same thing. If one wants to put God first in one’s life, that can be understood, but putting “church” first, to this degree is downright reckless).

It is almost impossible for someone who doesn’t live in the south to describe how fanatical the locals can be about going to church. One of the first things this non-denominational, non-church, family was asked when we moved down here was; “Where do you go to church?” several times in a week – that is not something I’d be asked in Seattle or Boise.

There is nothing wrong with it, normally. But now it is leaving the south particularly vulnerable because it is going to spread from Louisiana like wildfire. Look at the states that have been most resistant to laws mandating the closure of businesses and those requiring people to shelter in place; Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida – that I know of.

It isn’t a coincidence.

And it is infuriating to someone like me, a 49-year-old man, living with an 87-year-old grandmother, a 36-year-old wife, and a 12-year-old girl. It puts all of us, especially granny, at much higher risk, because we cannot do the very necessary things without taking on greater risk; Running to the grocery store and pharmacy are more dangerous. The guys who fixed the AC yesterday acted put off when I told them to put on masks and use anti-septic wash often. (It was 90 degrees for god sake, too).  They likely have heard it’s no big deal.

We are going to hear about more and more people who refused to stop going to church dying because they simply refused common-sense steps. When it goes out to the community from there, it becomes reckless and part of a conspiracy.

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Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom