I grew up in the Evangelical right-wing, and my evangelist father was one of the architects of religious right, which went on to wage so many of the culture wars of the 1970s and 1980s, and which ultimately led to the election of Donald Trump.
When COVID-19 broke out worldwide a little over a year ago, the response to it was dangerously politicized. Evangelical Christians, which wholly constitute the base of the Republican Party, followed their leader in denying what they were told was a hoax, deciding that closing churches and wearing masks to protect one another’s health was something only liberal Democrats would do, and instead they screamed and marched and armed themselves and protested in state capitols and grocery stores, exacerbating the spread of the deadly disease and stunting whatever feeble progress a state was able to make to contain the spread in the midst of a complete lack of leadership on the part of a dishonest President and his silent, enabling Party.
After many false starts, thanks to a new President who respects humanity, we actually have begun to round a corner and Americans are getting vaccinated in greater numbers every day, but there are holdouts – according to a Pew Research Poll, 40% of Evangelicals – the Republican Party’s Base – say they will most definitely never get the vaccine.
That means that every time you walk past an Evangelical church, college, high school, or primary school, you’re in fact likely walking past a COVID-19 hotspot.
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