WH Shelves CDC's Church Reopening Advice in Fear of Backlash From Religious Trumpists,

[babylonsister]

I imagine there also might be a backlash when people start dying, which is already happening.


https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-shelves-cdcs-church-reopening-advice-in-fear-of-backlash-from-religious-trumpists-says-report?ref=home

White House Shelves CDC’s Church Reopening Advice in Fear of Backlash From Religious Trumpists, Says Report
LOVE OF GOD
Jamie Ross
Updated May. 21, 2020 6:25AM ET /
Published May. 21, 2020 5:05AM ET

Scientific advice on how to safely reopen U.S. churches has been held back because the White House fears a backlash from President Trump’s religious supporters, according to the Washington Post. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week released guidance for reopening a wide range of institutions and businesses including schools, child-care facilities, and restaurants. But there are reportedly no plans to release guidance for religious institutions because of a disagreement between the CDC and the White House on how restrictive the measures should be. Administration officials told the Post the White House didn’t want to upset religious supporters and believed some measures, such as limits on passing of collection plates, were too strict. After the two sides failed to reach a compromise, the advice was shelved. Tara Smith, an epidemiology professor at Kent State University, said: “You’re talking about that group that is really vulnerable to this virus, and those are the ones you don’t have guidelines for and that you need to protect.”

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Collection plates- there you have it.

"The White House didn’t want to upset religious supporters and believed some measures, such as limits on passing of collection plates, were too strict." The fundie churches need to be sure their sheep are sheared.

[samnsara]

2. do churches still do that?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Yes, especially the fundie churches.

Nothing gets megachurch attendees to empty their wallets faster than hearing the preacher tell them that Jesus needs their money (read: the preacher needs a new Learjet).

[Buckeyeblue]

6. God needs a new Corvette...and he has asked me to drive it!

[PJMcK]

3. I had the same thought

That sentence just leapt off the screen, didn't it?

More to the point, instead of adapting protective measures, Trump's administration did what they do best: they punted. They didn't want to offend their religious supporters.

Wait till they start contracting the disease.

[underpants]

4. I knew this was the reason

I heard last night that they left out the church part and I knew this was why.

[Squinch]

7. Let the self-culling continue.

[Cairycat]

8. I looked at the guidelines and didn't find them that threatening

Maybe if you believed that everything has to go back exactly the way it was, you might.

Here's a link to the actual PDF of the guidelines: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/3-17-20-faith-and-community-based-covid-19-faq.pdf

I know some DUers love to drag on churches for even existing, talk as though all churches are like the fundies, and don't think churches should ask for money (though they seem to realize other non-profit groups need funds to operate).

I think the guidelines above discuss positively the role churches can have in a community during this pandemic, ways they can help the community, and suggested (did not command) concrete ways that religious practices might be made safer during this time.

Yes, churches still take offering. They still have to pay pastors and other staff and things like utilities. A couple years ago, my church had the youth come up with a robot that could collect the offering. The whole congregation enjoyed the collection when the robot was doing it.

It is really sad that such mild and carefully-worded suggestions as are in the guidelines are left out for fear of offending some. I find it's also sad that so many here pounce on any excuse to bad mouth churches and lump all kinds of church members together.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. All churches are not like the fundie churches, which is why

I directed my post specifically at the fundies. Churches of all stripes survive on donations and they all have to pass the collection plate in some manner. Most of the mainstream churches are not holding live services because they understand that the safety of their members is more important than butts in the pews, and the "collection plate" is on-line (as are the services themselves). The fundies (especially the megachurches), on the other hand, want those live bodies, because when there's a live audience the preachers are able to whip up the emotions of the group in order to get them to open up their wallets. They need that big crowd of people whose emotional responses feed each other. The preacher knows that each congregant needs to see other congregants throwing their $20s (at least) into the plate or making their pledges; you can't stir up that kind of frenzy of giving when you're trying to do it on-line. You can't shear a sheep via PayPal.

[The Magistrate]

16. You Illustrate A Good Point, Ma'am

Mainstream Christians have a habit of reacting to comments regarding fundamentalist political preachers and prosperity gospel pimps as if they were themselves being attacked. They would do better to join in the denunciation, and make clear these heresies were damnable blasphemy, and that those engaged in them were hell-bound worshipers of Mammon and Satan who betrayed the Christ with every word they spoke and each breath they took.


"The worshiper is the father of the gods."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Some of them are doing exactly that.

John Pavlovitz is a good example of a Christian pastor who has been regularly lambasting the fundies.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/18/1945920/-Pastor-John-Pavlovitz-details-the-5-reasons-white-evangelicals-worship-Trump

[The Magistrate]

18. I Agree, Ma'am

More should behave as he does.

[babylonsister]

11. I'm not dragging on churches at all. But

when I read stuff like this, I would think finding ways for congregants to do it differently might be worth pursuing.

Two Southern Churches Reclose Indefinitely After Pastor Dies and Leaders, Churchgoers Catch Coronavirus
https://www.newsweek.com/two-southern-churches-reclose-indefinitely-after-pastor-dies-leaders-churchgoers-catch-coronavirus-1505291

[tanyev]

9. You'd think there would be a backlash when people started dying,

but over 93,000 dead so far and a lot of people are remarkably OK with it. Even the local news really glosses over the deaths. They've had lots of stories about people who were sick and managed to beat it. I know I've seen several stories with footage of a COVID patient finally leaving the hospital after several weeks, with hospital staff lining the hall and applauding. I mean, that's great for that particular person, but what about the thousands that didn't make it out of the hospital that way?

[safeinOhio]

12. Sounds fair as long as they

remove that lighting rod from the steeple.

[brooklynite]

13. "Houston Catholic church closes after 5 leaders get COVID-19"

National Catholic Reporter

HOUSTON — A Catholic church in Houston has closed its doors after five of its leaders tested positive for COVID-19, including two priests who had helped celebrate public masses which had resumed earlier this month.

The closure and positive tests come after a priest from Holy Ghost parish, 79-year-old Donnell Kirchner, died last week. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, but health officials are determining whether he might have contracted the virus before he died May 13.

Kirchner went to an urgent care clinic and later to a hospital emergency room. But after being released, he went back to the home he shared with members of his religious order, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston said May 18 in a statement.

Masses at the church had resumed May 2 as part of Gov. Greg Abbott's plan to reopen the state in phases from coronavirus restrictions. Sunday masses had never exceeded 179 people, or about 20% of the church's seating capacity, the diocese said.

[Initech]

14. Pfft, who needs science when you have Jesus?

[leftyladyfrommo]

15. 33 Southern pastors have died as a result of open

Church meetings. You would think people would get the message