Religious leader called coronavirus Gods punishment for gays is hospitalized with covid 19
A religious leader who previously blamed the coronavirus pandemic on LGBTQ people has been hospitalized with complications from COVID-19.
Ukraine’s Patriarch Filaret – the leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, one of the biggest branches of Christianity in the country that claims it has 15 million followers in the nation of 42 million people – has pneumonia, according to media reports.
“We inform that during planned testing, His Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kiev and All Rus-Ukraine tested positive for COVID-19,” the church said in a statement.
“Now His Holiness Bishop is undergoing treatment at a hospital.”
In adlater message posted to Facebook, the church said that Filaret, 91, has been diagnosed with “lung inflammation.”This past April, Filaret went on television and said that the pandemic is “God’s punishment for the sins of men, the sinfulness of humanity.”“First of all, I mean same-sex marriage,” he continued. At the time, the countries that were hardest hit by the pandemic were China, Iran, and Italy, none of which have legalized marriage equality.Filaret later doubled down on his words, saying that they were “consistent with Ukrainian laws.” Homosexuality is not illegal in Ukraine.Amnesty International Ukraine rebuked his statements, calling them “very harmful because they could lead to increase attacks, aggression, discrimination and acceptance of violence against certain groups.”
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John Bellamy Comments: I read recently about the priest in the USA who bussed thousands of people in to a massive church revival in the middle of the lockdown and that later on, the priest had died of Covid 19 and many of the parishiners were also ill - and I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone that dumb, that stupid and that obsessed with 'Jesus will protect me' - when clearly
Jesus was having a day off from all their dreary hymns and
boring prayers and left them to it - and I do not mean to sound hard and callous, but really - tough shit. You knew what was going on. You chose to attend a massive revival with thousands of people, You chose not to wear a mask and you knew the risks. Those who fight against and deny, that is fine as I love a good Conspiracy Theory - BOY do I love a Conspiracy Theory, BUT when people are dying - when there truly is something going on and when there are thousands dead in civilised countries who know how to protect themselves, yet go out of their way to assume Jesus, Alah or the Tooth Fairy is about to protect them, then I have no sympathy at all as blind faith serves no one and even God is appalled at blind ignorant faith.
Maybe the planet is better off without these people.
Maybe we are all better off without these people.
Like Brexit, Covid 19 is splitting communities apart. Those who believe and those who do not. Those who wear a mask when shopping and those who do not. Those who choose to be responsible and those who do not give a damn.Those who want to believe and those who deny.
The discussions, the rows and the arguments over Covid 19 will go on for years to come - and to be honest, no government will get it right as this has never happened before. This is the first global medical emergency on this scale any of us has ever seen and mistakes are going to happen. No magical politician is going to have all the answers at the right time and with hindsight, there is much for us all to learn. But that is the point, we must all LEARN from this experience as this will happen again, there will be another deadly medical emergency on this planet and next time millions will die and millions will be affected and millions / billions will be displaced as fear grips the planet and we will look back on this time as we do George W. Bush and compare him to Donald Trump and see Bush as a lightweight compared to the damage Trump has done, and almost see Bush now with affection ( almost - he did create an illegal gulf war... ) but compared to the long term damage done to the psyche of the American people where the rednecks, homophobes, women haters, white supremists and bigots have permission from their President to be as abusive to law and order as they like - and that kettle of fish will take a long long time to put the lid back on those bigoted rascist views that once spouted as right - from the President - causes and creates decades of unrest in the future and the USA will be the most divided country in the 'civilised' west...
I say civilised loosely as sometimes I do wonder ....
When people in a position of power - or who have a suggestion over others, like His Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kiev has done with his congregation, then this misguided fool must and has paid the price for his erroneous decisions and for all those he takes with him,. will forever be a black spot on his soul. So much for our religious leaders then, that they lead us down thr wrong path and not one of salvation but one of ruination and death.
Well done Your Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kiev - after maybe decades of work, decades of study, decades of doing what you thought was God's work, and decades as a good man - you will be forever remembered as the man who defied what was right, ignored important health advise, and brought people together to catch this deadly virus and the death of innocent followers will be - and has become - your legacy.
John Bellamy
