New York Times: COVID-19 'surges' through pews, as opposed to bars, marches, stores, etc.

[Michie]

Soon after the word “coronavirus” started dominating headlines around the world, your GetReligionistas started trying to communicate a pair of ideas that we thought journalists needed to “get” in this age of advocacy journalism.

Part I: It was perfectly valid to cover the relatively small number of religious groups — most of them totally independent Pentecostal and evangelical congregations — that were rebelling against government COVID-19 safety laws and recommendations (even when local officials were treating religious groups the same way they were treating stores, bars and other public institutions).

Part II: The bigger story was the cooperation that the leaders of most major religious institutions — from Catholic bishops to Southern Baptist megachurch leaders — were showing. In recent months, many of these religious groups have cautiously opened their doors to small groups of worships, once again following state and local guidelines.

Would that work perfectly? Good question. Here’s another: Will anything work perfectly when dealing with a virus that scientists and public officials are still struggling to understand?

Oh well. Whatever. Never mind.

This leads us to this epic headline in The New York Times, of course:

Churches Were Eager to Reopen. Now They Are a Major Source of Coronavirus Cases.

The virus has infiltrated Sunday services, church meetings and youth camps. More than 650 cases have been linked to reopened religious facilities.

Now, we are going to need a definition — right up top — of the word “major.”

How many cases are we talking about that have been shown to be linked to worship, in comparison to bars, big-box stores, beaches and, oh, massive public demonstrations? So here is the overture:

PENDLETON, Ore. — Weeks after President Trump demanded that America’s shuttered houses of worship be allowed to reopen, new outbreaks of the coronavirus are surging through churches across the country where services have resumed.

Continued below.
New York Times: COVID-19 'surges' through pews, as opposed to bars, marches, stores, etc. — GetReligion

 

[section9+1]

If churches were so infectious I'm sure the NYT along with the rest of its kindred rags would be strongly pushing people to attend church.

 

[Lady Bug]

Apparently the coronavirus knows the difference between certain kinds of venues.

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

Soon after the word “coronavirus” started dominating headlines around the world, your GetReligionistas started trying to communicate a pair of ideas that we thought journalists needed to “get” in this age of advocacy journalism.

Part I: It was perfectly valid to cover the relatively small number of religious groups — most of them totally independent Pentecostal and evangelical congregations — that were rebelling against government COVID-19 safety laws and recommendations (even when local officials were treating religious groups the same way they were treating stores, bars and other public institutions).

Part II: The bigger story was the cooperation that the leaders of most major religious institutions — from Catholic bishops to Southern Baptist megachurch leaders — were showing. In recent months, many of these religious groups have cautiously opened their doors to small groups of worships, once again following state and local guidelines.

Would that work perfectly? Good question. Here’s another: Will anything work perfectly when dealing with a virus that scientists and public officials are still struggling to understand?

Oh well. Whatever. Never mind.

This leads us to this epic headline in The New York Times, of course:

Churches Were Eager to Reopen. Now They Are a Major Source of Coronavirus Cases.

The virus has infiltrated Sunday services, church meetings and youth camps. More than 650 cases have been linked to reopened religious facilities.

Now, we are going to need a definition — right up top — of the word “major.”

How many cases are we talking about that have been shown to be linked to worship, in comparison to bars, big-box stores, beaches and, oh, massive public demonstrations? So here is the overture:

PENDLETON, Ore. — Weeks after President Trump demanded that America’s shuttered houses of worship be allowed to reopen, new outbreaks of the coronavirus are surging through churches across the country where services have resumed.

Continued below.
New York Times: COVID-19 'surges' through pews, as opposed to bars, marches, stores, etc. — GetReligion

It is amazing how Covid 19 is skipping the petri dish gyms and attacking the faithful. The NY Times has a strong dislike of those who maintain their faith. They want only compliant people.

 

[Lady Bug]

My best guess is that the coronavirus is hungry for the Word of God!

 

[Gnarwhal]

It sure does seem like they're trying to triangulate Christians as the root cause of what's going on so they can scapegoat us later like the Third Reich did with the Jews...

 

[LizaMarie]

Remember when they sent the cops after that pastor down in Kentucky a few months ago for holding drive-in church that people could listen to on their radio and a lot of cops showed up and issued him a cease and desist order and even the governor showed up and threatened to have him thrown in jail?
You never saw that kind of zeal from left of center governors when people were setting up their own countries in the middle of a city and so forth.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Remember when they sent the cops after that pastor down in Kentucky a few months ago for holding drive-in church that people could listen to on their radio and a lot of cops showed up and issued him a cease and desist order and even the governor showed up and threatened to have him thrown in jail?
You never saw that kind of zeal from left of center governors when people were setting up their own countries in the middle of a city and so forth.

And now we have Gov. Newsom telling us we can't sing or chant for worship because it expels too many droplets (puh-leez), but no - we must not blaspheme and point out all the ways the BLM/Antifa rioting has contradicted every health order given since this all started.

They're targeting Christians because they know we'll just roll over and capitulate; we're not the ones who burn down businesses, steal, rape, and murder innocent people. BLM and Antifa do that, so the governments backwards logic is to give the rioters a wide berth and come down hard on the law abiding citizens because they're easy.

I'm ready for an uprising against the uprising.

 

[iluvatar5150]

This leads us to this epic headline in The New York Times, of course:

Churches Were Eager to Reopen. Now They Are a Major Source of Coronavirus Cases.

The virus has infiltrated Sunday services, church meetings and youth camps. More than 650 cases have been linked to reopened religious facilities.

Now, we are going to need a definition — right up top — of the word “major.”

How many cases are we talking about that have been shown to be linked to worship, in comparison to bars, big-box stores, beaches and, oh, massive public demonstrations? So here is the overture:

PENDLETON, Ore. — Weeks after President Trump demanded that America’s shuttered houses of worship be allowed to reopen, new outbreaks of the coronavirus are surging through churches across the country where services have resumed.

Continued below.
New York Times: COVID-19 'surges' through pews, as opposed to bars, marches, stores, etc. — GetReligion

It is amazing how Covid 19 is skipping the petri dish gyms and attacking the faithful. The NY Times has a strong dislike of those who maintain their faith. They want only compliant people.

Wow, the persecution complex butthurt is strong here.

NYT doesn’t point the finger at bars?

A Virus Walks Into a Bar …

All Eyes on Bars as Virus Surges and Americans Go Drinking


Bars, Strip Clubs and Churches: U.S. Virus Outbreaks Enter Unwieldy Phase

Gyms were among the last businesses to re-open and they didn’t have the political juice that churches did, so I’m not sure why you’d expect to see much in the way of outbreaks from them. That said, they haven’t gone unmentioned at NYT , either:


Arizona Orders Bars, Gyms, Cinemas to Reclose to Slow Virus Surge


Gyms? Elevators? Here’s a Quick Coronavirus Risk Assessment

There are few venues in American life where people spend hours together, indoors, in close proximity to each other, breathing forcefully as one does while singing or shouting. Churches and bars are the two most common I can think of and both have come under lots of criticism for their disregard for safety protocols- the only real difference is that bar patrons don’t have the same persecution complex that Christians do. The more Christians whine about these restrictions and the more they spurn safety measures, the more criticism they’ll garner from the media, the more derision they’ll draw from the rest of society, and the more they’ll reinforce the stereotype that they’re self-centered and anti-science. And they’ll have earned every bit of it, while, ironically, making all of their problems worse.

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

Wow, the persecution complex butthurt is strong here.

NYT doesn’t point the finger at bars?

A Virus Walks Into a Bar …

All Eyes on Bars as Virus Surges and Americans Go Drinking


Bars, Strip Clubs and Churches: U.S. Virus Outbreaks Enter Unwieldy Phase

Gyms were among the last businesses to re-open and they didn’t have the political juice that churches did, so I’m not sure why you’d expect to see much in the way of outbreaks from them. That said, they haven’t gone unmentioned at NYT , either:


Arizona Orders Bars, Gyms, Cinemas to Reclose to Slow Virus Surge


Gyms? Elevators? Here’s a Quick Coronavirus Risk Assessment

There are few venues in American life where people spend hours together, indoors, in close proximity to each other, breathing forcefully as one does while singing or shouting. Churches and bars are the two most common I can think of and both have come under lots of criticism for their disregard for safety protocols- the only real difference is that bar patrons don’t have the same persecution complex that Christians do. The more Christians whine about these restrictions and the more they spurn safety measures, the more criticism they’ll garner from the media, the more derision they’ll draw from the rest of society, and the more they’ll reinforce the stereotype that they’re self-centered and anti-science. And they’ll have earned every bit of it, while, ironically, making all of their problems worse.

The courts were butt hurt also and sided with the church in NYC

NEW YORK -- A federal judge on Friday blocked New York state from enforcing coronavirus restrictions limiting indoor religious gatherings to 25% capacity when other types of gatherings are limited to 50%.

Judge Gary Sharpe enjoined Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Attorney General Letitia James from enforcing some of the capacity restrictions put in place by executive order to contain the spread of the virus.

The plaintiffs' religious activities “will be burdened and continue to be treated less favorably than comparable secular activities,” Sharpe said in his 38-page ruling from Albany.

The plaintiffs, two Catholic priests from upstate New York and three Orthodox Jewish congregants from Brooklyn, argued that the restrictions violated their First Amendment rights to practice their religion.

The plaintiffs said the restrictions forced the Rev. Steven Soos and the Rev. Nicholas Stamos, members of the breakaway Society of St. Pius X, to either turn away parishioners who wished to attend Mass "or to hold more Masses per day than are possible.”

Christopher Ferrara, an attorney for the plaintiffs, called the unequal restrictions “an irrational targeting of houses of worship.”

“The idea that houses of worship are some deadly viral vector unlike anything else is just superstition,” Ferrara said in a telephone interview. “There’s no science to support that.”

Restrictions limiting the number of people who can attend outdoor religious gatherings will also be lifted by the injunction.

Judge blocks 25% capacity rule for religious services in NY

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

In addition the courts wrote:

The judge noted that both Cuomo and de Blasio have expressed approval for protests against racism and police brutality that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month while continuing to support restrictions on religious gatherings.