4 ms·

I've been seeing this plotline for awhile, and the notion that this is normal is pure fiction. They are outliers; feel free to call them out for their irrespons

I've been seeing this plotline for awhile, and the notion that this is normal is pure fiction. They are outliers; feel free to call them out for their irresponsibility, but absolutely do not use them to make any kind of generalization. >Some megachurches have opted out of in-person services and turned to live streaming entirely. Correction: Just about every church that I've heard about has gone online. Certainly possible that less-affected states are a week or two behind the curve, but most understand the weight of this and are acting accordingly.

war1025 7y ago
Every church that I am aware of here in Iowa (both locally and back home for various people I know) has been closed for three weeks now. That includes the mega churches. Gatherings of more than 10 people are banned right now, and I don't think there are any churches interested in flouting the local government.
- Brendinooo 7y ago
  It's been an interesting exercise in leadership. Plenty of people want to go even if it's not safe for them, and others don't want to go but want to respect their leaders. I've found that each time we made a decision to tighten up in-person meetings, it brought way more relief than anger.
- heelix 7y ago
  We really had to spend time convincing my older in-laws that such large gatherings were a really bad idea. A couple days later, their church did the same thing most sport and music events did - online only. I can't image an organization would want the potential liability of running anything with a large mass of people right now.
- freepor 7y ago
  There are many churches, most but not all under the “Evangelical” category, who expressly want (in general, not specifically with respect to this virus) to flout government as a way of establishing religious doctrine as the Prime Directive. Most notable is Kim Davis who made an entire celebrity career out of denying a lawful marriage license to a gay couple.
  - freepor 7y ago
    Cute downvotes! Looks like the Venn diagram of butthurt Evangelicals and Hacker News users is more like a snowman’s silhouette than a Figure 8.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
aanfhn 7y ago
Yep, that's what I've seen across my area (Boston) and friends' communities. I appreciate the writer mentioning that there are many megachurches that have gone virtual. I admittedly still find it weird to have service online, so it's going to take me some time to get used to it. It was difficult for most churches figuring out the technical difficulties at first, but things have been smooth the past two weeks. Also, if anyone has ever been interested in checking out a church, this is probably the best time to do it - you can do it from the comfort of your pajamas, and tons of churches have virtual services. Happy to share a few well-known churches/pastors if anyone is interested.
teapourer 7y ago
Unfortunately, "most" is not sufficient here. In South Korea the majority of cases were spread through a small handful of church gatherings. Consequently I have come to think that media coverage such as this post is a net benefit to society, although it is undisputable that they cast many innocent people in a bad light.
- abnry 7y ago
  It's definitely a problem from a public health perspective, and that's why there should be legal measures to stop such large gatherings. However, these types of articles are often used to cast aspersions on all Christians. That was essential the point of the parent comment. Why single out megachurches? You could find plenty of similar examples in the business, social and government realm of large groups continuing to meet.
  - dntrkv 7y ago
    And there has been media coverage of those organizations. We should call all of them out. Though going to church might be the worst of all options since church goers tend to skew more to the older side of the population.
    - magduf 7y ago
      >Though going to church might be the worst of all options since church goers tend to skew more to the older side of the population. Actually, probably not, which is why "megachurches" is an important qualifier here. From my observations, megachurches tend heavily to be independent and evangelical, and tend to have much younger members. They also tend to have a lot of (Christian) rock music as part of the services. The old people don't join those churches; those people are still in the mainline Protestant churches they've been going to for many decades, which have traditional service, and don't preach to you that God loves rich people more.
  - wolco 7y ago
    For me the word mega in front of churches made me more concerned. Just because the crowds are so large. The media's dislike for anything Christian makes this a two quadrant story.. possible three if the mega churches are in a red state.
joe_the_user 7y ago
Any number of events drawing in many hundreds of people is a serious problem that can rebound on many thousands of people later on. It's good that some states are actually effectively stopping such gatherings but this serious problem apparently remain and may appear as a flood of refugees into these states. Note, one of the States mentioned as having large megachurch gatherings in the article is Louisiana, which was 4th in terms of numbers of deaths in the last 24 hours, not really behind the curve at all.
freewilly1040 7y ago
Are you in Louisiana?
- Brendinooo 7y ago
  No, Pennsylvania. The article mentions churches in LA, OH, and FL, but there was one in PA that isn't even a megachurch but was big enough to get an article that was basically the same as this one on the local news site. So they're definitely out there, but I haven't seen any evidence that they're anything but exceptions.
  - freewilly1040 7y ago
    TBF I think that exceptions are fair game. I'm thinking of spring breakers in Florida. Sure most college students are taking the virus seriously and sheltering in place, but the if there's an appreciable number who aren't, that is newsworthy.
bosswipe 7y ago
Your correction from "some" to "just about every" is not very useful. Every single large gathering is newsworthy because they endanger all of us.

war1025 7y ago

Every church that I am aware of here in Iowa (both locally and back home for various people I know) has been closed for three weeks now. That includes the mega churches. Gatherings of more than 10 people are banned right now, and I don't think there are any churches interested in flouting the local government.

Brendinooo 7y ago
It's been an interesting exercise in leadership. Plenty of people want to go even if it's not safe for them, and others don't want to go but want to respect their leaders. I've found that each time we made a decision to tighten up in-person meetings, it brought way more relief than anger.
heelix 7y ago
We really had to spend time convincing my older in-laws that such large gatherings were a really bad idea. A couple days later, their church did the same thing most sport and music events did - online only. I can't image an organization would want the potential liability of running anything with a large mass of people right now.
freepor 7y ago
There are many churches, most but not all under the “Evangelical” category, who expressly want (in general, not specifically with respect to this virus) to flout government as a way of establishing religious doctrine as the Prime Directive. Most notable is Kim Davis who made an entire celebrity career out of denying a lawful marriage license to a gay couple.
- freepor 7y ago
  Cute downvotes! Looks like the Venn diagram of butthurt Evangelicals and Hacker News users is more like a snowman’s silhouette than a Figure 8.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

aanfhn 7y ago

Yep, that's what I've seen across my area (Boston) and friends' communities. I appreciate the writer mentioning that there are many megachurches that have gone virtual. I admittedly still find it weird to have service online, so it's going to take me some time to get used to it. It was difficult for most churches figuring out the technical difficulties at first, but things have been smooth the past two weeks. Also, if anyone has ever been interested in checking out a church, this is probably the best time to do it - you can do it from the comfort of your pajamas, and tons of churches have virtual services. Happy to share a few well-known churches/pastors if anyone is interested.

teapourer 7y ago

Unfortunately, "most" is not sufficient here. In South Korea the majority of cases were spread through a small handful of church gatherings. Consequently I have come to think that media coverage such as this post is a net benefit to society, although it is undisputable that they cast many innocent people in a bad light.

abnry 7y ago
It's definitely a problem from a public health perspective, and that's why there should be legal measures to stop such large gatherings. However, these types of articles are often used to cast aspersions on all Christians. That was essential the point of the parent comment. Why single out megachurches? You could find plenty of similar examples in the business, social and government realm of large groups continuing to meet.
- dntrkv 7y ago
  And there has been media coverage of those organizations. We should call all of them out. Though going to church might be the worst of all options since church goers tend to skew more to the older side of the population.
  - magduf 7y ago
    >Though going to church might be the worst of all options since church goers tend to skew more to the older side of the population. Actually, probably not, which is why "megachurches" is an important qualifier here. From my observations, megachurches tend heavily to be independent and evangelical, and tend to have much younger members. They also tend to have a lot of (Christian) rock music as part of the services. The old people don't join those churches; those people are still in the mainline Protestant churches they've been going to for many decades, which have traditional service, and don't preach to you that God loves rich people more.
- wolco 7y ago
  For me the word mega in front of churches made me more concerned. Just because the crowds are so large. The media's dislike for anything Christian makes this a two quadrant story.. possible three if the mega churches are in a red state.

joe_the_user 7y ago

Any number of events drawing in many hundreds of people is a serious problem that can rebound on many thousands of people later on. It's good that some states are actually effectively stopping such gatherings but this serious problem apparently remain and may appear as a flood of refugees into these states. Note, one of the States mentioned as having large megachurch gatherings in the article is Louisiana, which was 4th in terms of numbers of deaths in the last 24 hours, not really behind the curve at all.

freewilly1040 7y ago

Are you in Louisiana?

Brendinooo 7y ago
No, Pennsylvania. The article mentions churches in LA, OH, and FL, but there was one in PA that isn't even a megachurch but was big enough to get an article that was basically the same as this one on the local news site. So they're definitely out there, but I haven't seen any evidence that they're anything but exceptions.
- freewilly1040 7y ago
  TBF I think that exceptions are fair game. I'm thinking of spring breakers in Florida. Sure most college students are taking the virus seriously and sheltering in place, but the if there's an appreciable number who aren't, that is newsworthy.

bosswipe 7y ago

Your correction from "some" to "just about every" is not very useful. Every single large gathering is newsworthy because they endanger all of us.