Coronavirus: Pastor who decried 'hysteria' dies after attending Mardi Gras

[VladmireTrumpkins]

Source: BBC News

Pastor Landon Spradlin wasn't worried about coronavirus when he went to New Orleans to preach during Mardi Gras. A month later he was dead.
(snip)
Pastor Spradlin was one of those who became ill, but tested negative for Covid-19. Even as he was sick, he posted on social media about "hysteria" surrounding the virus.

On the 13th of March Pastor Spradlin shared on Facebook a misleading post comparing swine flu and coronavirus deaths.

It suggested that Barack Obama and Donald Trump respectively had been treated very differently by the media and that it was a politically motivated ploy to harm President Trump.


Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52157824

[Jamastiene]

1. Ah, he later tested positive.

At first, they said he had tested negative, then later tested positive.

[Newest Reality]

2. Well,

COVID-19 is a really, really, potent hoax, I must say. I guess it is like a curse on a Pharaoh's tomb or something.

Well, too bad the death you get from it isn't fake, too. It is sad, in many ways, though.

[exboyfil]

3. Here is a very good article from a relative

In spite of being wrong, he was a friend and relative to others. We shouldn't take satisfaction in his death.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/landon-spradlin-coronavirus-pandemic-death-punchline/

But he wasn’t some prosperity gospel huckster or wealthy megachurch pastor. He was a traveling musician who frequently went out of his way to help the forgotten and the downtrodden, and he never had much money. He condemned drugs and alcohol, but he tried his best to help addicts recover and give them a place to stay when they had nobody else. I have no idea what he thought about me, the left-wing transgender niece of one of his closest friends, but he certainly never said anything negative to my family. I certainly preferred his preaching and music over the sheer hatred spewed in some of the churches around here.

[zipplewrath]

7. My problem

But he was no different from the average Republican in my hometown. They may not share his religious views, but they expressed the same skepticism regarding the pandemic, and some still congregate in public places without regard for social distance. They aren’t doing it because they think God will give them immunity to disease, and they aren’t going out to restaurants to save souls. They’re doing it because they don’t take the problem seriously enough, thanks to right-wing media outlets that downplayed the pandemic even as the numbers ticked up.

This is the fundamental issue I have with politics these days. There is no critical thinking going on. Politicians can lie, get caught, and yet suffer no loss of confidence and trust in them. Fox will lose no viewership despite their obvious pandering on this subject. And at the risk of "both sides" kind of assertion, not all democrats are immune from this kind of thinking either.

[lunasun]

4. No fear of virus -His son said they both felt it was election year hype -from link

Pastor Spradlin's son, Landon Isaac, 32, told me that he and his father had talked and agreed about what they felt was an irrational frenzy and fear mongering about the virus, perhaps because it was an election year.
"I want to say outright though, dad didn't think it was a hoax, he knew it was a real virus," says Landon Isaac.
"But he did put up that post because he was frustrated that the media was propagating fear as the main mode of communication," he told me.
By mid-March though, Pastor Spradlin's health suddenly took a turn for the worse. He and his wife decided to make the long drive back from New Orleans to their home in Virginia.

[Evolve Dammit]

6. What the fuck were they listening to? This is not a joke. Sorry for you loss but JFC.

[sfstaxprep]

5. One Less Vote For Drumpf

He's gonna kill off all the folks in those states that put him over the top.

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. Welcome to DU

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Trump himself re-iterated the disingenious comparison between H1N1 and Covid-19 today

in his press Q&A.

Full of shit as per usual.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. He Better Be Careful With That

H1N1 started in April 2009. First death end of that month. Obama was president 3 MONTHS.
The epidemic cleared in the US July 2010. 12,420 confirmed deaths in 15 months. That 835 deaths per month.
This hit US officially at end of January 2020. Trump was in office 3 YEARS!
That was 10 weeks ago, & we've got 10,000+ dead. That's 1000 per week!.
835 per MONTH vs. 1,000 per WEEK! That's 5x the death rate, and it hasn't peaked yet.
The numbers are clear that this comparison does not favor DOLTUS.

[KPN]

9. Now that's one powerful "hoax". Amen and may

you Rest In Peace Pastor Spradlin.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Here he appears in one of his musical tributes to the Almighty:

[paleotn]

11. Karma is having a field day.

[not_the_one]

13. christians at Mardi Gras can be quite humourous...

I "experienced" probably 10 Mardi Gras celebrations, 4 while living there.

Every year the christians descended on New Orleans hoping to ruin people's fun.

One year I took the attached photos which showed the reception they received, of gays on the balcony of one of the many gay bars, Cafe Lafitte in Exile... (RIGHT across from the world famous Clover Grill!!! - another story altogether...)

If you can't read it (cheap camera, poor photo ), the sign in the first photo says "and the Lord says"...
The sign in the 2nd photo says "Show Your Dick". Totally appropriate for the situation.



I hope the vicarious thrill the pastor received was worth the cost...

[AmericanCanuck]

14. Darwinism at work

How stupid are these people to think religion would save them from a deadly disease?

[Thekaspervote]

16. Yup!

[Thekaspervote]

15. The last sentence says it all!

[Blue_Tires]

17. As yes, the pride of Roanoke...

Rest in pieces...

[safeinOhio]

18. "God works in mysterious ways" nt