General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Cult of the Shining City Embraces the Plague
I would love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter, Trump said during a virtual town hall on Fox News, adding that hed like to see packed churches all over the country in just 19 days. Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer beamed and remarked, That would be a great American resurrection.
Nearly two hundred miles away, another resurrection was underway in Lynchburg, Virginia, as Jerry Falwell Jr. ordered Liberty Universitys reopening despite the advice of experts and Governor Ralph Northams having ordered nonessential businesses shuttered and public schools closed for the remainder of the year. Falwell Jr., scion of his father Jerry Falwells evangelical empire and a loyal Trump allywho recently suggested the coronavirus might be a biological weapon produced by North Korea or Chinaechoed the presidents baffling call to a return to normalcy, saying, Lets get them back as soon as we can.
It is easy to be confused by both of these developments and their seeming contradictions: Two very public figures treating the pandemic like it was under control as both the numbers and personal experiences show otherwise.
The president of the United States and his favorite news channel actively working to turn the holiest of holidays into a secular, nationalist triumph. The president of a religious university, named after one of the most famously espoused principles of Americas founding, continually playing politics.
But the truth is that these events, like so many others that seem irreconcilable based on our current understanding of politics, history, and American religion, fit into the same puzzle that was fused together from nationalism and capitalism decades earlier.
Those who have benefited from this fusion are now, in the face of a plague, rising in its defense. They wont be afraid to sacrifice lives or push society off the ledge.
They will support Trumps policy of reopening the economy without fearing the warnings of doctors or scientists. Theyll watch while millions die from the pandemic, and theyll chalk it up to Gods will. And theyve been preparing for this moment for a long time.
https://newrepublic.com/amp/article/157062/trump-falwell-evangelicals-coronavirus
OAITW r.2.0
(24,467 posts)Chilling....and, if their intent is to kill secularism, they will end up killing themselves, the true believers.
Corgigal
(9,291 posts)anything, if they are one of the chosen dead ones.
Dying alone, while their families cry outside the hospital.
They are so full of shit.
ZZenith
(4,121 posts)Horrifying reality.