Defiant Pastor: If My Parishioners Die, It’s For God

TMZ reports:

“If they die, they die.” Yes, a now-infamous Louisiana pastor got all “Rocky IV” on us, saying, if any of his church members die from the virus, they’ll have done so in the name of God and freedom. Tony Spell, leader of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, tells TMZ he thinks true Christians do not mind dying from COVID-19. He insists that what they fear instead is living in fear. As he puts it, “People that can prefer tyranny over freedom do not deserve freedom.”

He’s also not flinching at medical experts suggesting most of the nation will eventually contract the virus, even if only mildly. Spell’s reaction is, “Let’s get on with life. The bible teaches us to be absent from our bodies so we can be present with the Lord,” Spell said. “So like any revolutionary, or like any zealot, or like any pure religious person, death looks to them like a welcomed friend.”