In response to this:
John Reid writes:
“What the heck is wrong with these people? Do they not believe that their God gave them a functioning brain and that the best idea is to stay home?
It is a valid question. What ARE they thinking? My friend Larry Gohl replies:
I will respond. Many people believe all life is controlled by a higher power. The powerful feeling that you are “safe in god’s hands” removes your fight-or-flight response. I will tell you honestly that if I sincerely believed in the same heavenly home that the flat earth goat herders wrote about, I would get out of here as fast as possible. As it turns out, my motivation today is to help other humans to remain clean, safe and well-nourished. Peace.
I doubt the “safe in God’s hands” is a goat-herders invention. More likely, since it persists in diverse populations, an evolutionary overshoot of the normal security that social animals feel in the herd. The sad reflection is that a similar security feeling can be transferred to social systems that do have merit; like a proper health system not being drained by bloodsuckers.
If only these ‘good folk’ knew where God resides, they might be so much better protected.