Last week the governor of Kentucky ordered state police to record license plates of residents who attend church on Easter and report them for quarantine. "Local health departments are going to come to your door with an order for you to be quarantined for 14 days," he said. The Babylon Bee had its own take: Kentucky Orders All Churchgoers To Wear Yellow Cross
Contrast that with Texas Governor Gregg Abbot who declared religious services as essential.
Worldwide millions of people have suffered from contracting this Wuhan Virus. Beyond that, there have been hundreds of thousands of deaths. Additionally, people have lost jobs and businesses and suffered loss that losing an income brings. Now there's another victim, especially in America. It appears that the First Amendment has been infected. At least, that's how it looks in several places around the country. Churches have attempted to keep social distancing rules while gathering for important things like Resurrection celebrations only to find themselves targeted by the government. It happened in Kentucky and Mississippi and New York and elsewhere. (New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened to shut down churches permanently if they violated the restrictions.) Those who tried to go to drive-in churches were targeted and fined even though they never came in contact with anyone else.
The government has the right and responsibility to keep its people safe. Taking reasonable steps to prevent further spread of this virus is not unreasonable. What is unreasonable is the targeting of churches. They still allow drive-in cannabis and alcohol purchases. Essential? Protection of its people is one thing; targeting religious practice is another. And if it goes unchallenged now as both "nonessential" and "acceptable practice," it will emerge on the other side as normal and acceptable. This story of Google deplatforming a church because they don't like their sermons is an example of how it's already happening.
Battling On
In an incredible upset, Joe Biden won the presidential primary in Alaska running against ... no one at all. "He now has 1,228 delegates and needs 1,991 to become the official Democratic nominee for president," the news item said. It was also noted that Biden beat Sanders (who is not even running) 55.3% to 44.7%. It's a real nail-biter, folks.
Believe Some Women
One of Joe Biden's former accusers has come forward again. According to The Week, Tara Reade's accusation (she's one of eight) of sexual assault against Biden was investigated by the New York Times. They "found no corroboration outside of two friends Reade told in 1993 and 2008." (Interestingly, a New York Times editor admitted that they changed the story after the Biden campaign complained.) Clearly, when conservatives are accused, the standard that needs to be met is "Believe all women," but when it's a liberal, not so much.
The Name of God is Blasphemed ...
The headline reads, "Prominent evangelical leader, Bishop Gerald O. Glenn, dies from coronavirus in Virginia." Glenn made the news in late March when he told his congregation, "I firmly believe that God is larger than this dreaded virus." So, what do we know? We know a pastor died of complications from the virus. We know that he was the pastor of the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Richmond, Virginia. We know that he claimed that God was greater than the virus and that he died. What don't we know? We don't know if he was "evangelical" in his beliefs, even though the headline apparently mixes up "Evangelistic" in the name of his church with "evangelical" in reference to his theology. And nothing about this says that God is not larger than this dreaded virus. What else do we know? We know that The name of God will be blasphemed because of the mainstream media ... without just cause.
To Mask or Not to Mask?
As it turns out, a recent study showed that face masks do make a difference, although it is counterintuitive. You see, the holes on surgical masks are small enough (as low as 16.9µm) to block bacteria, but the largest known virus is only 0.5µm in diameter, so face masks shouldn't help. As it happens, however, the virus expelled from an infected person is contained in respiratory droplets and those are larger than the virus. So face masks (preferably homemade to keep the real ones available for those on the frontlines) do help. Now, if we could only get people to stop touching their faces ...
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