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Assholes Congregating in Florida Church

Don't get too excited, DL. But churchgoers in FL have congregated, despite federal warning to keep physical distance:

The River Church in Tampa was packed to the gills with worshipers who clearly were looking for hope. Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who presides over the megachurch and has been reportedly defiant over social distancing, has claimed he'll cure coronavirus just the way he did with Zika.

He has vowed he will never close his church...despite every doctor and scientist saying social distancing is the only thing that will prevent the disease from spreading even more.

The Pastor boasted his place was white-glove clean, saying, “We brought in 13 machines that basically kill every virus in the place, and uh, if somebody walks through the door it’s like, it kills everything on them. If they sneeze, it shoots it down at like 100 mph. It'll neutralize it in split seconds. We have the most sterile building in, I don’t know, all of America.”

Howard-Browne said on March 17, "We are not stopping anything. I've got news for you, this church will never close. The only time the church will close is when the Rapture is taking place.”

The Pastor has peddled ridiculous theories in the past, but this takes the cake.

The scariest part...all these people showed up elbow-to-elbow. If they contract the disease, they are the ones most likely to spread it, because they are clearly not practicing or understanding social distancing.

BTW...Pastor Joel Osteen, who presides over the Lakewood Church in Houston, is doing virtual services to protect his congregation.

As for Howard-Browne...well, faith is important, but seriously...risking the health and safety of the people who come to worship...really outrageous and irresponsible.

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by Anonymousreply 101April 10, 2020 2:37 PM

No surprise. Still happening in my town, too.

Listen, Southerners can be rotten people. Persons who can hold people in human bondage, and still think the South will rise again, are assholes.

These are not enlightened folks. And their kindness usually comes with a price.

by Anonymousreply 1March 29, 2020 10:39 PM

Can I have their stuff?

by Anonymousreply 2March 29, 2020 10:40 PM

Good. That’ll be however many less religious morons to deal with in New America..or zone 17...or whatever.

by Anonymousreply 3March 29, 2020 10:40 PM

Sounds like a great idea to me. Leaves us with fewer MAGATs here on earth.

by Anonymousreply 4March 29, 2020 10:41 PM

Religious people are insane.

Glad I finally wised up long ago.

by Anonymousreply 5March 29, 2020 10:42 PM

It's a free country. I suppose you'd rather live in Xi's China OP?

by Anonymousreply 6March 29, 2020 10:42 PM

Let the GOP voters wipe each other out

by Anonymousreply 7March 29, 2020 10:44 PM

R6 At least China's getting the virus under control.

by Anonymousreply 8March 29, 2020 10:47 PM

Megachurch megatools

by Anonymousreply 9March 29, 2020 10:50 PM

Christianity looks especially stupid right now. Literal death cult. Little Wacos everywhere.

by Anonymousreply 10March 29, 2020 10:52 PM

Thoughts. Prayers.

by Anonymousreply 11March 29, 2020 11:21 PM

Can't wait to join them all. Forever!

by Anonymousreply 12March 29, 2020 11:23 PM

It's just another way to "own the libz" True believers know that God doesn't care what building you are in to believe in him. It's called Faith.

Poor sad souls they are.

by Anonymousreply 13March 29, 2020 11:27 PM

He's a modern day Jim Jones!

by Anonymousreply 14March 29, 2020 11:41 PM

I don't have a problem with these worshippers congregating. The easiest way to thin out the Deplorable herd.

by Anonymousreply 15March 29, 2020 11:47 PM

I mean, honestly it's less votes from his base, but they're gonna spread the virus to others in the area that might vote the other direction. We're all fucked because of this.

by Anonymousreply 16March 29, 2020 11:58 PM

MAKE THEM ALL DIE

by Anonymousreply 17March 30, 2020 12:09 AM

God works in mysterious ways

by Anonymousreply 18March 30, 2020 12:11 AM

It's not that they're all ignorant.

And they are all ignorant, it's that they are so proud of being ignorant. They wear it as a badge of honor

I work with two women like this. They don't believe any of this. They think it is all a hoax. We have 18 people in our county with the virus. They think they are all making it up.

by Anonymousreply 19March 30, 2020 12:15 AM

The Lord will provide. But their time on earth may be limited.

by Anonymousreply 20March 30, 2020 12:18 AM

Yet they'll blame it all on New Yorkers. Watch

by Anonymousreply 21March 30, 2020 12:19 AM

[quote]God works in mysterious ways

His disasters to perform.

by Anonymousreply 22March 30, 2020 12:20 AM

Florida: Stand your ground and end up in the ground.

by Anonymousreply 23March 30, 2020 12:21 AM

R15, R18: Amen Baybay!

by Anonymousreply 24March 30, 2020 12:29 AM

Good. Darwin's Law in action.

by Anonymousreply 25March 30, 2020 12:31 AM

I hope these religious freak killers all get sick. Religion KILLS!

by Anonymousreply 26March 30, 2020 4:08 AM

Natural selection

by Anonymousreply 27March 30, 2020 4:15 AM

I don’t give a fuck about any of these anti-science, anti-intellectual Bible-brandishers..

But they’re fucking up the attempt to flatten the curve. Now they will go to grocery stores and pharmacies and disseminate the virus among people who have no option but to leave their homes for food and medicine.

And they’ll drive up infection rates when hospitals are already breaking down under a rush of corona patients.

I wish these people could be held accountable when the dust settles.

For now, I’d be fine seeing them fined into bankruptcy.

by Anonymousreply 28March 30, 2020 4:26 AM

Lock them in and burn it to the ground. It's what they want anyway. All religions worship death. They are literally sick.

by Anonymousreply 29March 30, 2020 4:50 AM

I would be interested in a study to find out how many of those FL churchgoers actually contract Wuflu, how many recover and how many die. Both out of scientific interest and to ascertain who are the bigger lunatics: the churchgoers or the posters on this thread.

by Anonymousreply 30March 30, 2020 4:57 AM

The question is why the pastors do things like this. They are atheists, they know their church is a fraud, why do they do stunts that put themselves in danger?

by Anonymousreply 31March 30, 2020 5:01 AM

Can someone hand them some poisonous snakes to pass around? Pretty please!

by Anonymousreply 32March 30, 2020 5:04 AM

I live in Brooklyn. It's the Hasidim who behaved like this earlier.

by Anonymousreply 33March 30, 2020 5:11 AM

And it's working so well for Jerry Falwell Jr., who reopened Liberty University last week and now has 18 students with coronavirus (which means there are many, many more who have it there).

by Anonymousreply 34March 30, 2020 5:13 AM

It just doesn't end....these selfish, brainwashed a-holes who will spread this virus far and wide, while many people who are staying home and losing money not working are suffering. THIS is Trump's 'Murica.

Hundreds of people flouted Louisiana’s Covid-19 ban on gatherings, coming on buses and in personal vehicles to the first of three Sunday services at their church a day after New Orleans police broke up a funeral gathering of about 100 people. An estimated 500 people of all ages filed inside the mustard-yellow and beige Life Tabernacle church in Central, a city of nearly 29,000 outside Baton Rouge.

More than 3,500 Louisiana residents have been diagnosed with the disease caused by a new coronavirus, and more than 150 of them have died, according to state figures released Sunday. Deaths include that of the first federal prison inmate – a man with “serious pre-existing conditions” who was being held in Oakdale, Louisiana, the US Bureau of Prisons said Saturday. Assistant ministers and worshippers outside the front doors and in the car park at Life Tabernacle told media to leave, saying cameras would not be allowed on the property and worshippers had been told not to talk to reporters. They went inside without further comment.

More than 3,500 Louisiana residents have been diagnosed with the disease caused by a new coronavirus, and more than 150 of them have died, according to state figures released Sunday. Deaths include that of the first federal prison inmate – a man with “serious pre-existing conditions” who was being held in Oakdale, Louisiana, the US Bureau of Prisons said Saturday. Assistant ministers and worshippers outside the front doors and in the car park at Life Tabernacle told media to leave, saying cameras would not be allowed on the property and worshippers had been told not to talk to reporters. They went inside without further comment.

Across the street, neighbours gathered in a driveway, carefully staying at least 6 feet (about two metres) apart. Paul Quinn, a resident of Central who lives near the church, says this is a health hazard.

“Other congregations are using the internet, Skype, and other safe ways to congregate. Why can’t they? What makes them so special?” said Quinn. “I wish state police would come out and do something. This is above our little local police level. The state needs to get involved. If they get out of church and go to the grocery store, it’s a serious health hazard. They don’t know how many people they’re affecting, and they don’t seem to care. That’s a problem.”

The virus has killed seven of more than 160 people diagnosed with the disease in East Baton Rouge Parish, according to state figures.

In New Orleans, police broke up a “funeral repast” of about 100 people Saturday afternoon, issuing a warrant for a 28-year-old man who refused to shut it down and giving the band leader a summons, a news release said. Several complaints about that event were among more than 300 received in the past week about violations of a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people, Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said in a separate statement.

More than 1,300 of the Covid-19 diagnoses and 73 of the deaths have been in New Orleans, and Governor John Bel Edwards repeated on Sunday’s national news talk shows what he has been saying for days: the city’s hospitals are likely to run out of ventilators by April 4 and of hospital bed space by April 10. New Orleans tourist economy has also been hit hard, with hotels, restaurants, bars, convention centers and other businesses closed, and food banks running low.

Food banks got a boost when the US Department of Agriculture agreed that they could use about 4 million pounds of stockpiled federal emergency supplies. New Orleans leaders had been asking for about a week before USDA granted the waivers Friday night, The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate reported.

“We told them tens of thousands of people have been laid off in the hospitality industry, and they need food now,” City Councilwoman Helena Moreno said. “Then they kind of got it.”

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by Anonymousreply 35March 30, 2020 7:56 AM

[quote]who are the bigger lunatics: the churchgoers or the posters on this thread.

You honestly have to ask?

by Anonymousreply 36March 30, 2020 10:25 AM

R36 Yes. Hysteria, irrationality, and lunacy (to say nothing of bigotry, scapegoating and demonising) are not limited to one particular race, ethnicity, belief system, or sexual orientation. This and so many others are proof of that.

by Anonymousreply 37March 30, 2020 10:30 AM

The mistake we are making IS that we are denying that regardless of the internet, human beings are social animals. We need human contact, especially when we are told that we must not have any. This is why social distancing will not work.

by Anonymousreply 38March 30, 2020 10:57 AM

It MUST be one size fits all!

Bugtussle, Kentucky MUST lock down like Manhattan or EVERYONE WILL DIE!!!!

by Anonymousreply 39March 30, 2020 11:03 AM

R38 Human beings also have brains that allow them to use critical thinking skills and understand that social distancing, while inconvenient and maddening, will ultimately save lives.

by Anonymousreply 40March 30, 2020 11:40 AM

After this, they go to the grocery and infect others. religious sociopathic slaves.

by Anonymousreply 41March 30, 2020 12:23 PM

Good. Let them die.

by Anonymousreply 42March 30, 2020 12:35 PM

Kill them off. Everyone’s better off without them.

by Anonymousreply 43March 30, 2020 12:38 PM

I'd argue that this is sociopathy. The faith is showing itself for what it's always been.

by Anonymousreply 44March 30, 2020 12:42 PM

So why isn't the governor of FL having the local police break up these services like they do in other states? Maybe because like allowing spring break to happen and disseminating the virus throughout the country it brings him too much money and votes. De Santis has to be the scummiest scum who ever scummed.

by Anonymousreply 45March 30, 2020 12:50 PM

This is no different from the mayor not wanting to close the beach in Jaws. And then a swimmer gets killed. Fucking idiots. DO CHRISTIANS NOT WATCH JAWS?!

by Anonymousreply 46March 30, 2020 12:52 PM

Interesting analogy.

Chief Brody received the slap of grief-driven anger when it really should have been the mayor.

I wonder who will be blamed for the surge in transmission rates in these communities in the coming month.

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by Anonymousreply 47March 30, 2020 2:58 PM

[quote]I wonder who will be blamed

Regardless, the ones responsible will deflect it. Pass the buck is the modus operandi of the weak.

by Anonymousreply 48March 30, 2020 3:53 PM

The reality is that until one of these idiot gatherings is DEVASTATED by an outbreak, they'll simply continue to do it.

Unfortunately, until one of these churches or weddings has the infection sweep through and kill a couple dozen people, they're going to continue to gather, putting all of us at greater risk.

It's one of those classic ethics problems where you determine whether it's moral or ethical to allow dozens of people to die to save hundreds or thousands. Since it's not an active act of pulling a trigger or pushing a button, but a passive one of letting their own selfishness and stupidity do them in, I won't be upset when it finally happens.

by Anonymousreply 49March 30, 2020 4:24 PM

Some truly hate-filled, miserable cunts on this thread.

Good work.

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by Anonymousreply 50March 30, 2020 4:45 PM

Did he just equate COVID-19 with The Rapture? I'm okay with that.......

by Anonymousreply 51March 30, 2020 5:01 PM

Bye bye, death culters. Buh bye.

by Anonymousreply 52March 30, 2020 5:57 PM

Good!

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by Anonymousreply 53March 30, 2020 6:30 PM

Why is Senator Joe McCarthy R50 always posting on DL? I thought he was dead in his mother's basement in Wisconsin.

by Anonymousreply 54March 30, 2020 6:40 PM

Ridiculous exemption in Michigan

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by Anonymousreply 55March 30, 2020 6:41 PM

The pastor at that River church was arrested today for endangering lives with his church services.

It seems that the uneducated, the evangelicals, the Trumpists, are the ones violating the rules. What will happen when their states start to get contaminated. What will their lack of education, religion, or Trump do for them then?

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by Anonymousreply 56March 30, 2020 7:33 PM

R56 This arrest will just make his lunatic followers think of him as some kind of sacred martyr akin to Jesus.

by Anonymousreply 57March 30, 2020 7:37 PM

And that motherfucker in Florida is already out of jail!

by Anonymousreply 58March 30, 2020 7:55 PM

These people are fucking stupid. Right wing America is a cancer on our country. This shit has to stop now.

I'm hating Trump more and more everyday. He is unfit and should be removed immediately.

by Anonymousreply 59March 30, 2020 7:57 PM

It's not just the crazy churches.

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by Anonymousreply 60March 30, 2020 8:02 PM

R60 Still all church-ey, though.

by Anonymousreply 61March 30, 2020 8:08 PM

I was about to say, please don't make these fucking morons martyrs. They will market these fool's simplistic books about their jail time. I'm sorry, I grew up around this church insanity and I just despise the hypocrisy and delusion.

by Anonymousreply 62March 30, 2020 8:09 PM

One of my Iranian friends said the virus spread quickly in his country because the clerics refused to heed the advice of the health and science communities to close down the pilgrimage sites in Mashhad and Qom, where the faithful crowd into the holy shrines, touching and kissing everything in sight. The clerics said Allah would protect them. Even after several clerics died of Covid-19 complications, they still refused to sanitize the shrine because it was sacrilege. And then,  after the government wised up and closed down the shrines, dozens of religious hardliners stormed the barricades and demanded the shrines be reopened for the faithful.

Religious hardliners, whether Christian, Jew, or Muslim, all seem to be cut from the same stubborn cloth. If they want to destroy themselves in the name of God, fine, but they're going to take all of us down with them with their stupidity.

by Anonymousreply 63March 30, 2020 8:43 PM

I wish stories like at r60 would be blasted across the news so idiots will the message.

The level of arrogance is astounding.

by Anonymousreply 64March 30, 2020 8:47 PM

Maybe the faithful all need to be quarantined so the rest of us can live.

by Anonymousreply 65March 30, 2020 8:49 PM

[quote]kissing everything in sight.

Were they all high on Love Potion #9?

by Anonymousreply 66March 30, 2020 8:50 PM

A hot guy testifies about a man gifting him a car at the 1:19 mark.

by Anonymousreply 67March 30, 2020 10:32 PM

Don't single out Christians. People are holding mass parties in the Forest Preserves in Chicago. All of the churches I'm familiar with are all teleconferencing, including mine, and I am doing my class using teleconferencing. The hardest part is explaining to some of the older people how to use the software.

by Anonymousreply 68March 30, 2020 10:36 PM

I think that religious authority figures that put their flock in danger should be arrested and made an example of. Religion has gotten away with too much over the past 2000 years. Hold believers to task, especially now when their actions are putting humanity at risk.

by Anonymousreply 69March 31, 2020 1:14 AM

[quote]I think that religious authority figures that put their flock in danger should be arrested and made an example of. Religion has gotten away with too much over the past 2000 years. Hold believers to task, especially now when their actions are putting humanity at risk.

Perils of the flesh are nothing when compared to eternal salvation and damnation of the soul, r69.

How can you even compare an extra 10, 20, or even 30 years of life to everlasting life and salvation?

by Anonymousreply 70March 31, 2020 1:33 AM

R70 Well then I hope their heavens exist.

by Anonymousreply 71March 31, 2020 1:36 AM

They wouldn't let someone with HIV in the church over 30 years ago - now they say it is okay to get Coronavirus

by Anonymousreply 72March 31, 2020 1:42 AM

R71 I hope that their afterlife is a non-stop gay orgy, and they are forced to watch

by Anonymousreply 73March 31, 2020 1:42 AM

The pastor’s been arrested.

by Anonymousreply 74March 31, 2020 1:43 AM

^Oops, sorry, realize I was scooped upthread.

by Anonymousreply 75March 31, 2020 1:45 AM

R38, Guess I'm not one of them. I was already "social distancing" before the Corona. I almost feel sorry for you guys lol

by Anonymousreply 76March 31, 2020 1:56 AM

Child fuckers all of them. They don't give a shit. Never have. Kill them all.

by Anonymousreply 77March 31, 2020 5:28 AM

That’s OK, r75, it bears repeating.

by Anonymousreply 78March 31, 2020 11:11 AM

It’s not just Christians (or churches):

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by Anonymousreply 79March 31, 2020 11:12 AM

More fundie loons

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by Anonymousreply 80March 31, 2020 4:54 PM

Did you hear about all of those Christian assholes congregating in Central Park in New York? They should all be arrested! What right does the coalition lead by Franklin Graham have to set up and emergency hospital in the middle of Central Park? The nerve of them actually trying to help people! They should be sitting at home watching the media criticize everybody!

by Anonymousreply 81March 31, 2020 7:19 PM

[quote] What right does the coalition lead by Franklin Graham have to set up and emergency hospital in the middle of Central Park?

Oh, dear!

by Anonymousreply 82March 31, 2020 8:03 PM

[quote] Did you hear about all of those Christian assholes congregating in Central Park in New York? They should all be arrested! What right does the coalition lead by Franklin Graham have to set up and emergency hospital in the middle of Central Park? The nerve of them actually trying to help people! They should be sitting at home watching the media criticize everybody!

I heard all about them. Who wants to be a few of these fundie fucks have been exposed to the virus? And then everyone they came in contact with might get exposed too

by Anonymousreply 83April 1, 2020 7:55 AM

My brother who manages a grocery store says the absolute WORST time to shop is during "Senior Hours" - big crowds, no social distancing, and pandemonium .

He says there are other times during weekdays when there are only three or four people in the store.

by Anonymousreply 84April 1, 2020 2:18 PM

Pastor should be put in jail and. Church closed and guarded. Yes a lot of right winners sick seems good but it just won't help.

by Anonymousreply 85April 1, 2020 2:29 PM

Finally closing the state down, after they've imported the virus to everyone- and exported it to every other state.

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by Anonymousreply 86April 1, 2020 7:46 PM

Who cares? They can give it to each other. They woN’t spread it to you as long as you practice social distancing.

by Anonymousreply 87April 1, 2020 9:55 PM

R31, these preachers love exercising power over people; they are addicted to it. They do not want to give that up, no matter what.

by Anonymousreply 88April 1, 2020 10:15 PM

Seats in the pews = money in the collection=new yacht for the pastor = place to escape when the virus hits his congregation.

by Anonymousreply 89April 1, 2020 10:25 PM

[quote] Add it up

I was told there’d be no math.

by Anonymousreply 90April 1, 2020 10:42 PM

DeSantis is beyond evil in what he allowed to happen in FL.

by Anonymousreply 91April 2, 2020 5:10 PM

r87, some of us still have to go to work or go out to get our groceries.

Social distancing at 6' apart is the best practical solution at the moment, but there isn't much scientific research proving that it's adequate, and there is some worrisome research showing that the virus may stay in the air for longer than previously thought.

Large groupings of people hurt the attempt at flattening the curve by exposing multiple people in the same setting before they disperse and subject the rest of us to their recklessness. Moreover, even if they don't spread it outside their group, when they get sick, they will clog up the already collapsing health system and use up resources that might otherwise have been more evenly distributed.

They need to be arrested, fined, or imprisoned if they continue to defy mandates.

by Anonymousreply 92April 2, 2020 6:45 PM

They're covered in Jesus' BLOOD, y'all!

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by Anonymousreply 93April 8, 2020 9:09 AM

Finally, some good news: large plagues of theists dying.

by Anonymousreply 94April 8, 2020 9:34 AM

Florida is going to be a crazy shitshow by next week. Trump sent his butt buddy DeSantis tons of supplies, but I bet DeSantis won't figure out how to unpack and distribute it without fucking it all up.

by Anonymousreply 95April 8, 2020 1:05 PM

DeSantis is such an evil prick he shouldn't get a band-aid.

by Anonymousreply 96April 9, 2020 2:57 AM

Let them congregate.

Then seal. them. in.

by Anonymousreply 97April 9, 2020 4:47 AM

Interesting, you can sit six feet apart on a Southwest Airlines flight, but you can't sit six feet apart in a church.

by Anonymousreply 98April 10, 2020 2:04 PM

That's their business. If they were shutting down a gay bathhouse because of AIDS you'd complain how awful that was.

by Anonymousreply 99April 10, 2020 2:29 PM

If such a sterile building existed why wouldn’t hospitals use it?

by Anonymousreply 100April 10, 2020 2:32 PM

Bless their hearts.

by Anonymousreply 101April 10, 2020 2:37 PM
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