DECEMBER 31, 2020 BY MICHAEL STONE
Despicable: An obnoxious Christian pastor in Michigan is caught on video blaming a man for his COVID death because he claims the man was “weak” and lacked “faith.”
ABC News reports:
A family is outraged over a video of a Niles pastor seemingly blaming their family member’s – and one of his parishioners – COVID-19 death on a lack of faith.
Michiana Christian Embassy previously held a funeral service for Les Tom, but now, Lead Pastor Rev. Jeffrey Whittaker’s Dec. 13 sermon is adding to the family’s heartache.
In the Dec. 13 sermon caught on video, Pastor Jeffrey Whittaker mocks his parishioner Les Tom for succumbing to the COVID virus, claiming that Tom was “weak” and lacked “faith.”
In addition, during his sermon the obnoxious and ignorant pastor downplayed the pandemic and condemned social distancing.
At one point the cruel ignorant pastor declared:
We do not disrespect Les; he died of COVID because he’s weak, because he has no faith.
For the record, claiming the man died because he was weak and lacked faith is the epitome of disrespect.
At another point, the pastor mocked the dead man’s family members who wanted to be safe during the funeral, calling them “hypocrites and cowards”:
We welcome masks, sit here, sit there; we answered people’s questions for Sheri’s funeral and for Les’s funeral and guess what, they were liars and hypocrites and cowards. Why? Because ‘I want to come but I want to make sure I can social distance.’
What an asshole.
It is obvious to every reasonable person that Les Tom did not die because he lacked faith. He died because COVID-19 is frequently a deadly virus.
As for faith, religious superstition has no power over a virus.
Despite the obnoxious and cruel rant, some parishioners defended the ignorant pastor. For example, Terry Ecktezksein said:
Sometimes Pastor is tongue and cheek and he will say things sarcastically or blatantly not true to get a point across; he would never blame somebody for their own death, he loved Les, they were good friends, it was God’s timing.
To be clear, there is nothing “tongue and cheek” about the pastor’s remarks. Instead, the pastor’s remarks are a toxic brew of arrogance, ignorance, and cruelty.
In short, a despicable display from a despicable man.
Bottom line: An obnoxious Christian pastor in Michigan is caught on video blaming a man for his COVID death because he claims the man was “weak” and lacked “faith.”
(H/T Friendly Atheist)
