Pastor-ized Poop

[tomcat]

...no ignorance like religious ignorance:


Pastor Flouting Stay-At-Home Order Remains Defiant After Parishioner's Death

Carol Kuruvilla
HuffPost April 18, 2020, 8:03 AM GMT+7

A Louisiana pastor whose church has remained open during the coronavirus pandemic urged his followers to donate their stimulus checks to evangelists like himself ― on the same day one of his elderly parishioners reportedly died due to the virus.

Pastor Tony Spell, who leads Life Tabernacle Church in the suburbs of Baton Rouge, has been openly defying his state’s ban on large public gatherings, drawing hundreds to in-person worship services while insisting that “true Christians do not mind dying.”
Harold Orillion, a 78-year-old member of Life Tabernacle Church, died on Wednesday from complications related to COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, according to several Louisiana news outlets. The local coroner listed Orillion’s cause of death as “acute respiratory distress syndrome, 2nd pneumonia, 2nd COVID-19,” according to a statement obtained by the Daily Beast.

Nevertheless, Spell is insisting that Orillion’s death was not related to COVID-19.
“He died of a broken heart,” Spell told local NBC affiliate WVLA-TV on Thursday. “Harold’s son died last week,” he said, adding that Orillion had Parkinson’s disease.

“Harold did not have Coronavirus, he was never on [a] ventilator, he did not have Covid-19,” the pastor said.
A lawyer hired to represent Life Tabernacle Church in its fight to ignore Louisiana’s stay-at-home order has also fallen ill from the virus and has been hospitalized since Tuesday, according to local newspaper The Advocate.

It’s not clear where exactly these two men contracted the coronavirus.

Pastor Tony Spell welcomes worshippers to Easter services at Life Tabernacle Church in Central, Louisiana, on April 12, 2020. (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters)

On the day of Orillion’s death, Spell posted a video to his YouTube page encouraging viewers to get involved in a . Spell suggested donating the money to evangelists, missionaries and music ministers who “haven’t had an offering in a month.”
The pastor said he is donating his entire stimulus check of $1,200 and his wife is doing the same. His son is also donating his check of $600, the pastor said.

“If you don’t have a church, give through my website,” he added before spelling out that website address in the video.
Spell declined to answer HuffPost’s questions about Orillion’s death and about the stimulus challenge, telling this reporter in an email, “If you really want to know come see in person.”...

[Seekingasylum]

I really do relish these accounts of the stupid, they are so life-affirming in the sense one's belief that the majority of people, pretty much anywhere, are profoundly dumb, ignorant idiots no more than mere sacks for food and fillers of pisspots measuring the distance between savagery and superstition, an exercise they ridiculously describe as religious observance.

Whether they are the vast swathe of America's Mid-West or Republican redneck Tumpers, Brexit nincompoops or the English blue-collar oik, the Asian savage praying to ghosts and living in supine ignorance or Antipodean bogans, it matters not, people are for the majority a rather disappointing lot.

[tomcat]

I really do relish these accounts of the stupid, they are so life-affirming in the sense one's belief that the majority of people, pretty much anywhere, are profoundly dumb, ignorant idiots no more than mere sacks for food and fillers of pisspots measuring the distance between savagery and superstition, an exercise they ridiculously describe as religious observance.

Whether they are the vast swathe of America's Mid-West or Republican redneck Tumpers, Brexit nincompoops or the English blue-collar oik, the Asian savage praying to ghosts and living in supine ignorance or Antipodean bogans, it matters not, people are for the majority a rather disappointing lot.

...*cough*...and you belong to which of these groups?...

[harrybarracuda]

The US should ramp up Koolaid production and hope that new Jim Jones pop up everywhere to eradicate these noisy god botherers.

[Seekingasylum]

...*cough*...and you belong to which of these groups?...

And how are your ionised water enemas coming on?

[tomcat]

And how are your ionised water enemas coming on?

...ready to fill your order...

[tomcat]

A Slap from God:

Pat Robertson Suggests Same-Sex Marriage, Abortion Among Reasons For COVID-19
Carol Kuruvilla
HuffPost April 24, 2020, 7:33 AM GMT+7

Televangelist Pat Robertson agreed that abortion and same-sex marriage are partly to blame for the novel coronavirus that has caused massive social and economic upheaval in the U.S.

The 90-year-old Christian Broadcasting Network founder suggested that God won’t end the coronavirus pandemic until people “turn from their wicked ways.”
“You confess your sins and forsake them. Then he heals the land. It’s not before,” he said on of his show, “The 700 Club,” earlier this week.
Robertson’s comments came during a segment in which he fields questions from viewers.

On Monday, a viewer asked him about how a popular Bible verse, 2 Chronicles 7:14, applies to COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. The verse reads, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
The viewer asked: “How can God heal our land and forgive the sins when abortion and same-sex marriage are laws and many people are anti-Israel. Doesn’t this prevent his healing and forgiveness?”

Robertson told the viewer, “You are right.”
“I think you put your finger on something very important. You know the Bible says ― they turn from their wicked ways,” he said. “We are not turning when we have done terrible things.”

In his response, Robertson explicitly cited abortion and abuse of the poor as some of the reasons why “God would hold us guilty.”
CBN did not return HuffPost’s request for elaboration about Robertson’s statements.

Pat Robertson hosts the "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcast Network. (Photo: The 700 Club - April 20, 2020 / YouTube)

Most Christian traditions would agree that abusing the poor is a serious sin. But Christian denominations in the U.S. have adopted a wide range of positions on issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Within American evangelicalism, whether Robertson’s views are mainstream or fringe is a matter of debate between scholars. What isn’t up for debate, however, is his network’s reach and influence.

“The 700 Club” is the flagship program of CBN, the conservative network Robertson founded in 1960. The show has considerable reach ― about 650,000 U.S. households watch Robertson’s “700 Club” program every day, according to CBN. The network also maintains close ties to President Donald Trump’s administration and regularly features high-ranking White House officials as guests on its shows.

Robertson’s roots are in the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination. But over the years, he has become more closely identified with charismatic Christianity, which emphasizes spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues and prophecy.
The televangelist has long drawn criticism for taking inflammatory positions on Islam, LGBTQ issues and feminism. He’s received backlash for appearing to blame national tragedies on culture war issues, such as LGBTQ rights and abortion.

Immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, Robertson and fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell, Sr. speculated on the “700 Club” that God had allowed the terrorists to succeed because the U.S. had become a nation of abortion, feminism, homosexuality, and secularism. Faced with withering disapproval from then-President George W. Bush and fellow evangelicals, both men later insisted their comments were taken out of context.

A screenshot from The April 20th episode of The 700 Club shows a viewer question about COVID-19 and 2 Chronicles 7:14. (Photo: "The 700 Club - April 20, 2020" / YouTube)

Most evangelical Christians consider abortion and same-sex marriage to be sinful, but many would be hesitant to interpret COVID-19 or similar events as God’s judgment on America, according to Thomas Kidd, a historian at Baylor University who studies evangelicalism.
“Few evangelical leaders or pastors are willing to get as specific as Robertson about the connection between our sins and God’s temporal judgments,” Kidd said. “In this sense he is an outlier.”

Some evangelical leaders would also question Robertson’s interpretation of 2 Chronicles 7:14, Kidd said, doubting if this verse should be applied to God’s relationship with the U.S. today.

“Some evangelicals would also note that the verse calls on God’s ‘people,’ not Americans or all people in general, to pray and repent of their sins,” Kidd said.

Jason Bivins, a scholar of religion and politics at North Carolina State University, argued that Robertson’s belief that God withholds blessings from nations because of certain sins is “very common” within American evangelicalism, particularly among middle-aged and older white evangelicals.
The Christian Right’s belief in God’s covenantal relationship with the U.S., and in end-times prophecies about Israel, has helped shape U.S. foreign policy for decades, Bivins said.

“Not only is Robertson not an outlier, but this sensibility is very much present at the highest levels of the U.S. government, even if the rhetoric doesn’t always get wielded as bluntly as it does by Robertson,” Bivins said.