On Wednesday, Tony Spell, the defiant Louisiana pastor who has continued to run church services in opposition to a state ban on large gatherings, reaffirmed his intent to continue doing that same thing in spite of the risk that parishioners of his could catch and spread COVID-19.
Spell, who heads up Baton Rouge's Life Tabernacle Church, made it clear to TMZ that he's unconcerned with the risks of a bunch of people getting together in-person during the pandemic. He stated that "true Christians do not mind dying," and that they in fact "fear living in fear."
He said if any of his followers died then he'd tell their families that they "died like free people fighting for their convictions." He also insisted that there was no use in social distancing because everyone will eventually catch the virus.
“Scientists need to know that God gave us a strong immune system, and the only way we’re going to destroy this virus is for, they say everybody’s gonna get it?” he stated. “Then if everybody’s gonna get it, then let’s get on with life.”
Throughout the two-and-a-half minute back-and-forth, the TMZ interviewer seems confused. This is completely understandable when you listen to the way Spell talks. Media coaches are a non-essential profession, we get it. But still.
Watch the whole interview up top, it's wild.
Spell (who's hardly the only noncompliant holy man) was being interviewed by TMZ because he's made headlines by ignoring his state's shelter-at-home order. Last week, during Palm Sunday, he opened his church to more than 1,000 members.
Even before that he was arrested and charged for disregarding the state's decree. Those charges were for at least half-a-dozen gatherings that Spell had held since Louisiana banned gatherings of 50+ people (he has since held more).
“It’s not a concern,” Spell said of the virus back on March 18. “The virus, we believe, is politically motivated. We hold our religious rights dear and we are going to assemble no matter what someone says.”
As of Wednesday, Louisiana had more than 17,000 confirmed cases of the disease and had attributed 652 deaths to it.
