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Most in Mississippi are ‘less scared’ of Covid-19 because of Jesus

Most in Mississippi are ‘less scared’ of Covid-19 because of Jesus

Last updated on: September 1, 2021 at 7:18 pm by Barry Duke

Most in Mississippi are ‘less scared’ of Covid-19 because of Jesus 2021-09-01T19:18:56+02:00 Barry Duke

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THE Freedom From Religion Foundation yesterday lashed out at Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, accusing him of “callous religious indifference to the mounting pandemic toll in his state.”

Reeves told attendees at a Republican Party fundraiser on August 26 that Mississippians “are a little less scared” of the virus than other Americans because most in his state share Christian beliefs.

When you believe in eternal life – when you believe that living on this Earth is but a blip on the screen, then you don’t have to be so scared of things.

Just the day after his remark, the Mississippi Department of Health confirmed the sixth Covid-19 death of a child in the state.

The FFRF said in a statement:

Reeves’ belief in eternal life, and the lack of fear supposedly created by it, has unfortunately led to devastating results under his watch. Mississippi now has witnessed the most Covid-19 deaths per capita in the United States. It lags behind the nation in vaccinations, ranking as the second least-vaccinated state – which has so far led to more than 8,300 Mississippians dying from Covid and over 435,000 contracting the virus.

Throughout the pandemic, Reeves has criticized measures to slow the spread of the disease introduced by public health officials and has declined to issue a mask mandate at schools, where the disease is spreading rapidly. He regularly directs citizens to “pray together” over the pandemic, yet eschews directing them to follow science by taking basic public health precautions.

According to Fortune, only 47.1 percent of adults in Mississippi have received at least one dose of the vaccine – well below the national vaccination rate of 67.2 percent – and only 33.19 percent were fully vaccinated as of July 7.

FFRF has previously urged Reeves:

To be more scientific and less pious, but that doesn’t seem to have caused him to modify his failed approach.

Reeves latest biblical baloney prompted FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor to write to the Governor:

Your actions constitute inappropriate endorsements of religion by the highest executive in the state. We, once again, ask that you refrain from making these ineffective and exclusionary requests, proclamations and statements and instead take real, meaningful actions to ensure that the state’s response to the pandemic is based on methods grounded in science that will protect our health care workers, teachers and students and the other citizens of Mississippi.

Reeves has been elected governor, not preacher, FFRF stresses.

His religious zealotry is insulting to citizens who do not believe in a deity. Nonreligious Americans make up the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population by religious identification – 35 percent of Americans are non-Christians, and this includes the more than one in four Americans who now identify as religiously unaffiliated. The nonaffiliated, in fact, comprise the largest demographic by ‘denomination.’

As governor, Reeves must remain cognizant that he has taken an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution, an entirely godless and secular document, and is charged with great responsibility over citizens, including those citizens who may not share his personal religious viewpoints.

Rather than boasting about his state’s religiosity, Reeves should be instructing Mississippians to get vaccinated, engage in social distancing, wear masks and take other recommended precautions.

In short, FFRF concludes:

Reeves needs to get off his knees and get to work!

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