Demonstrating that their business is the business of fleecing their flocks, a collection of California right-wing preachers are planning to defy their State's social distancing orders starting May 31. The network, calling themselves Church United, is supported by the far-right Family Research Council and encourages the weakening of the Constitutional provision against the establishment of a state religion.
California's Governor Gavin Newsome did not include California's churches in the phase 1 reopening that began on May 8, saying last week:
“Congregations of people from far and wide coming together in a closed space at a large scale remains a point of concern and anxiety for us. We are working on guidelines for physical distancing and working with faith leaders talking about unique conditions in their own facilities. Nothing is etched in stone.”One of the pentecostal hucksters leading the COVID charge is Jack Hibbs, who believes that May 31 is a good time to spread the virus because it's Pentecost, which commemorates "the day in which the Bible says the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles of Jesus of Nazareth." Hibbs is also saying the date was "deposited in my head" a few weeks ago, perhaps after an injection of Clorox.
Hibbs is assisted in his holy hucksterism by an "ex-gay" preacher (riiight!) by the name of Jim Domen. Domen also has an expansive view of the civil authority of churches:
“The church transcends the governments of this world and the politics of this world because the church is a living, breathing, divine institution. We have to remember that no matter where we might live in the world, under what government, those governments will eventually fail. The Bible makes it clear; Jesus will come and establish His kingdom.”It won't surprise you that both Hibbs and Domen have a decidedly perverse Golden Calf to inspire them:
"Like Hibbs, Domen is a huge fan of President Donald Trump and sees a divine hand at work. [Author Katherine] Stewart quotes Domen saying, 'I believe it’s also divine that we are powering up Church United at the same time that America is under new leadership.'”So come, ye sheep, pack their churches and embrace one another. You may not believe in what Darwin taught, but natural selection will come for you.
(photo: Hibbs' Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Church will be a virus petri dish soon. Julie Arellanes)
