Exclusive: Support for Hong Kong protesters' demands rises even as coronavirus halts rallies: poll

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Support for the demands of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong has grown even as rallies have paused due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a survey conducted for Reuters that also showed a widespread lack of confidence in the government’s ability to manage the COVID-19 crisis.


Demands for the resignation of Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, were supported by 63% of respondents in the poll, conducted by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute between March 17-20, versus 57% in a poll it conducted in December.

Supporters of the protests outnumbered opponents by a ratio of roughly two to one, with 28% against them compared with 30% in a poll in December, and 58% supporting them, versus 59% previously.

The poll showed a significant increase in the levels of support for key demands of the often-violent demonstrations which rattled the city for most of last year and into early January before the coronavirus crisis.

The survey also showed a widespread lack of confidence in the government’s coronavirus measures, with 54% expressing distrust and 33% giving the thumbs up.

The anti-government protests escalated in June 2019 over a since withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions of defendants to mainland China, and later morphed into a movement for greater democracy in the Chinese-ruled city.

Many protesters say Beijing has used its authority under the “one country, two systems” formula, agreed when Britain handed over the city to China in 1997, to undermine freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong that are unavailable in the mainland.

“It is understandable that protesters resort to extreme means,” said Patrick Yeung, a 32-year-old IT worker who responded to the survey. “I hope Beijing can meddle less in Hong Kong’s affairs, which could actually stabilize Hong Kong and curb people’s anger.”

Beijing denies meddling in Hong Kong and blames the West for fomenting unrest.
Lam’s office and China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which comes under the State Council, or cabinet, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Support for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, a core demand of protesters aimed at strengthening the territory’s level of autonomy, rose to 68% from 60% in December.

An independent commission of inquiry, which protesters want to look into how the police handled demonstrations, is now supported by 76% of respondents versus 74% previously.

The demands of the protesters “haven’t been diluted, or forgotten, due to the epidemic situation,” said Ma Ngok, associate professor of government and public administration at Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Opposition to the demands of the protesters has remained virtually unchanged at 15%.

“The government should investigate the culprits behind the political crisis and should not accede to other demands from the protesters,” said another respondent, Ming Hon, an unemployed 49-year-old who moved to Hong Kong from mainland China recently and had jobs in cleaning and construction.

For the poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, 1,001 respondents were randomly surveyed by telephone in Cantonese, which is spoken by the vast majority of people in Hong Kong. The results were weighted according to the latest population figures.

VIRUS RESPONSE

Following a large rally on New Year’s Day in which some protesters clashed with police, crowds on the streets have dropped from many thousands to a few hundred as Hong Kongers adopted social distancing to fight the coronavirus.

Some recent protests focused on the government’s decision not to fully close the border with mainland China, where the virus is believed to have originated. The administration has since banned all tourist arrivals.

Although Hong Kong has won praise for limiting the outbreak to roughly 450 cases and four deaths, the poll showed that many citizens remain distrustful of the government.

“The results in combating the pandemic are because of the self-discipline of Hong Kong people. The government has nothing to do with it,” said Evelyn Lau, a 23-year-old tutor who participated in the poll.

OPPOSITION TO INDEPENDENCE

Another key finding of the survey is that while calls for Hong Kong’s independence from China grew within the margin of error, opposition to the idea has dropped significantly and indifference has increased dramatically.

Support for independence rose from 17% in December to 20%, but opposition tumbled from 68% to 56%, and those not leaning either way doubled to 18%.

“People talk more about it, so it becomes more easy to accept,” said Samson Yuen, assistant professor in the political science department at Lingnan University, referring to the independence issue. “When people talk more about ‘liberating Hong Kong’, it shifts the frame.”

With Legislative Council elections due in September, the pro-democracy/pro-Beijing split remained virtually unchanged from last year’s district council vote, with 58% saying they would vote for a pro-democracy candidate and 22% for a pro-Beijing one, with the rest undecided or not planning to vote.

The degree of support for the protests varied sharply by age, education and whether respondents were born in Hong Kong. Younger and better-educated people born in the city were far more likely to lean pro-democracy or support the protests.

The poll, the second in a series commissioned by Reuters from the independent polling firm to gauge public sentiment amid the city’s worst political crisis in decades, showed respondents mainly blamed Lam’s administration for the state of affairs.

Some 43% of respondents primarily blamed the Hong Kong government, compared with 47% in the previous poll, while 14% blamed the central government in Beijing versus 12% in December. The police and protesters were blamed by about 10% each in both polls.


Many protesters say they are incensed by what they see as an abuse of power by the police in dealing with the unrest. The police say they have used reasonable and appropriate force against illegal acts including vandalism and rioting.

China has denounced acts of violence in the protests, which it sees as being aimed at undermining Chinese sovereignty.


Factbox: What Hong Kong opinion poll respondents are saying about protests

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Reuters commissioned Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute to conduct a poll on public sentiment amid the city’s worst political crisis in decades and he spread of the coronavirus.

Of the 1,001 people surveyed, 150 were given the option to share contact details with Reuters. Of the 80 who did, Reuters interviewed 10. Some did not want their full name published.

LAI, 80-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, RELYING ON ELDERLY BENEFITS

“The government insisted on pushing forward the extradition bill. That was a big misstep. Then the government withdrew it, but protesters insisted on their demands and overreacted. Both sides are damaging the economy and Hong Kong is deadlocked.”

“The government is never doing its job. Officials just sit in air-conditioned rooms and never feel for common people.”

MA, 55-YEAR-OLD WOMAN

“The government has undoubtedly made a mistake. But hurling petrol bombs is too much.”

“I am totally against independence. Take national defense for example, do we have our own army?”

“Our government is not working for the people, it is working for Beijing.”

“The effort of curbing the pandemic belongs to the Hong Kong people, not the government.”

KIM CHAN, 32, MARKETING OFFICER
“The government tells us to combat the pandemic together, but I can’t see what they are doing. The idea of a border closure was initially raised by medical workers.”

“I will vote pro-democrats because they are the lesser evil. Beijing has gone deep in our political and financial system, and has an enormous influence on our freedoms.”

“Five demands, not one less.”

MING HON, 49, UNEMPLOYED MAINLAND IMMIGRANT
“The government should investigate the culprits behind the political crisis and should not accede to other demands from the protesters.”

“Protesters vandalized and set fire to public facilities, banks, etc. They are arsonists and rioters, who should be put in jail. No demand they raised was rational.”

“Without the extradition bill, Hong Kong will become a haven for criminals.”

“Hong Kong belongs to China no matter the circumstances.”

“I hope the government can help us secure a job after the pandemic.”

SHUI-YIN TSANG, 60-YEAR-OLD RETIRED WOMAN

“I am scared when I see people in black. Protesters’ demands are attempts to rationalize outrageous behavior, like an ugly, foolish child bargaining with his parent.”

“It is undeniable that Hong Kong forever belongs to China.”

“All government policies come too late ... Anyway, we have to still support the government and give more time to (Carrie Lam) to wake up.”

PATRICK YEUNG, 32, IT WORKER
“It is understandable that protesters resort to extreme means. I hope Beijing can meddle less in Hong Kong’s affairs, which could actually stabilize Hong Kong and curb people’s anger.”

“People in Hong Kong helped each other, sharing masks and disinfectant. This is not the government’s success.”

LI, 74-YEAR-OLD RETIRED DRIVER

“The only way to secure the greatest extent of freedom is to make Hong Kong independent. The existing political system is flawed. Freedom is not just a slogan, it is something of utmost importance.”

“The Communist Party is the symbol of dictatorship.”

“The Hong Kong government is rubbish.”

EVELYN LAU, 23-YEAR-OLD TUTOR

“The results in combating the pandemic are because of the self-discipline of Hong Kong people. The government has nothing to do with it.”

“It is a shame to have this government... I won’t vote pro-establishment, in order to protect my freedom.”

“Hong Kong is inseparable from China. If we want to go independent, there are too many obstacles.”

FUNG, 35, TRANSPORTATION WORKER
“One-country, two-systems still works. I want the economy to flourish.”

“The government acted really slow on the pandemic.”

PAUL LO, 60, RETIRED TEACHER
“We have to go independent. Beijing’s regime is not transparent and respectful to human rights. We cannot live under ‘one country, two systems’, a freak product.”

“If China truly adopted freedom, I wouldn’t mind Hong Kong staying with China.”

“The Hong Kong leader should ... act as a bridge between Beijing and Hong Kong people. But now, they are the puppet of Beijing and only know how to please Beijing.”

“The five demands should be answered.”

Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Philip McClellan

Exclusive: Brazil scales back environmental enforcement amid coronavirus

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil will cut back on efforts to fight environmental crimes during the coronavirus outbreak, an official at environmental agency Ibama told Reuters, despite concerns that reduced protection could lead to a spike in deforestation.
FILE PHOTO: A deforested and burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon, near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil September 11, 2019. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

Ibama Director of Environmental Protection Olivaldi Azevedo said the outbreak has left him little choice but to send fewer enforcement personnel into the field because of the highly contagious virus.

He estimated that one-third of Ibama’s field operatives are close to 60 years old or have medical conditions that put them at greater risk for severe symptoms of the virus.

Ibama has not hired new agents in years because of government budget cuts and its ranks are rapidly aging.

“There’s no way you can take these people who are at risk and expose them to the virus,” Azevedo said. “There is no choice between one thing and the other. It’s an obligation.”


Two sources at Ibama, who were not authorized to speak to the media, said rank-and-file field agents are worried about their own health and the risk they could spread coronavirus to the rural regions where they operate.

Deforestation experts said that while health concerns must be a top priority, the policy may have grave environmental consequences.

“Weakening enforcement definitely means a greater risk of deforestation for obvious reasons,” said environmental economist Sergio Margulis, author of a paper on “Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon.”

The additional risk comes in the wake of soaring deforestation and a spike in fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest after right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, sparking global outcry that he was emboldening illegal loggers, ranchers and land speculators.

Brazil is home to roughly 60% of the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, which absorbs vast amounts of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

Bolsonaro has defended development plans for the Amazon region by arguing that they are the best way to lift more Brazilians out of poverty. But the spike in deforestation threatens to derail a South American free trade deal with Europe and hurt exports.

ESSENTIAL BUT UNDERSTAFFED

In a decree last week, Bolsonaro defined environmental enforcement as an essential service during the coronavirus pandemic, allowing Ibama to keep sending agents into the field.

But Azevedo said even essential services, such as health care and police, must be cut back to protect at-risk workers.

Bolsonaro’s press office directed questions to the Environment Ministry. The Environment Ministry, which oversees Ibama, did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The most important operations will be prioritized, while some areas will need to be cut back, Azevedo said, adding that protecting the Amazon is a priority.

“There won’t be a reduction in enforcement agents in the Amazon,” he said, predicting some parts of the rainforest may even see falling deforestation.

Ibama sources said the pandemic presented more logistical challenges given that many hotels and restaurants are closed and flights have been canceled en masse.

Azevedo said that while agents can still choose to fly, Ibama is allocating vehicles and prioritizing ground transportation to reduce the risk of contagion.

Some agents drive for days to reach their assignments in the Amazon, one of the sources said.

Researchers agree that reduced enforcement allows for more deforestation. However, a deep recession triggered by the pandemic could create rising unemployment, which can boost criminal activity, but also depress prices for illegally acquired wood and land.

Paulo Barreto, a senior researcher for non-profit Amazon institute Imazon, said it was impossible to predict the reaction of criminals, who are hard to study. Commodity prices remain high and a weakening Brazilian real currency means farmers are seeing greater profits for their exports. Demand to clear new land for farming therefore remains strong, he said.

Illegally clearing and selling land is inherently speculative, so Barreto said criminals may still deforest with the hope of impunity, then sit on the land until they can sell.

Deforestation was already up 71% from a year earlier in January and February, according to preliminary government data, and researchers will be watching March and April data closely.

“My guess is that deforestation will not go down,” said Carlos Nobre, an earth systems scientist at University of Sao Paulo.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/mutual-aid-solidarity-and-humor-in.html

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Pandemic could spark unrest among West's urban poor: Red Cross aid agency


GENEVA (Reuters) - Social unrest could erupt among the urban poor and marginalized in the West’s biggest cities as they lack sources of income amid the COVID-19 crisis, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Friday.


More than 80,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Italy since the outbreak emerged little more than a month ago and some 8,215 have died, far more than in any other country.

Francesco Rocca, an Italian who heads the world’s largest disaster relief network, said that as well as social unrest the risk of suicide is increasing among vulnerable isolated people.

“We have a lot of people who are living very marginalized, in the so-called black hole of society... In the most difficult neighborhoods of the biggest cities I am afraid that in a few weeks we will have social problems,” Rocca told a U.N. news briefing.

“This is a social bomb that can explode at any moment, because they don’t have any way to have an income,” said Rocca, whose Geneva-based agency also deploys volunteers in hard-hit Spain and France.

He said the largest Western cities could see these problems emerge “in a few weeks”.

Rocca, who is also president of the Italian Red Cross, spoke from Milan in the north, epicenter of the country’s outbreak, after visiting Codogno, Bergamo, Brescia and Lodi.

Some people with a family who normally live on odd jobs that earn them 20-25 euros a time are often outside social assistance programs, Rocca said, adding: “Think about the Roma camps.”


In Italy, Rocca met mayors and some of the 180,000 Red Cross volunteers who visit elderly people confined to their homes, do their food shopping and get medicines from pharmacies. There is a shortage of ventilators in the north and the south, he said.

The IFRC, which has 14 million volunteers in 192 countries, and the International Committee of the Red Cross appealed on Thursday for 800 million Swiss francs ($830 million) to help vulnerable communities worldwide fight COVID-19.


Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Hugh Lawson
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Senegal's graffiti artists join fight against coronavirus

DAKAR (Reuters) - The mural stretched over 10 metres of wall in Senegal’s seaside capital Dakar shows a giant pair of hands reaching out for sanitiser, and a woman in hoop earrings and a facemask colored blue, red, gold and green.


Serigne Boye aka Zeus, a graffiti artist from RBS crew works on his mural to encourage people to protect themselves amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dakar, Senegal March 25, 2020. Picture taken March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

It is the work of RBS CREW, a collective of graffiti artists who have offered up their spray cans in the cause of public health.

Black and yellow block letters spell out the message “Together against COVID-19,” referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“A big thank you to the caregivers,” reads another message scrawled out like a graffiti tag, next to the government’s health hotline on the high school wall.


“As Senegalese we have a duty, a responsibility to raise awareness,” said Serigne Mansour Fall, the 33-year-old head of the collective who goes by the name “Mad Zoo”.

“Especially as the majority of the population is illiterate, as artists, we can communicate through visuals,” said Fall, whose past work has focused more on Dakar street life and Malcolm X.

Senegal had reported 119 cases and no deaths as of Friday. Figures reported across Africa are still relatively small compared with parts of Asia and Europe, but the World Health Organization has warned the continent’s window to act is narrowing.

That, said Fall, makes it even more important to encourage prevention measures and head off false information, including one online rumor that only white people can catch the disease.

Other murals painted around Dakar by the collective show people washing their hands with soap and water and sneezing into their elbows.

Each year for the past decade, Dakar has also hosted the Festigraff festival, which bills itself as the leading graffiti festival in Africa and attracts artists from around the world.

RBS CREW was set up in 2012 with the goal, according to its website, of making messages ring out “like blasts of gunfire”.

Canada attacks 'damaging' Trump plan to deploy troops at border
David Ljunggren, Idrees Ali

OTTAWA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada on Thursday slammed a U.S. proposal to deploy troops along their undefended border to help fight the spread of the coronavirus, saying the idea was unnecessary and would damage relations.

The uncompromising comments were a surprise, since Ottawa has enjoyed smooth relations with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over the past 18 months. Last week, the two nations agreed to close the border to non-essential travel to ease the outbreak’s strain on health systems.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday evening that Washington had dropped consideration of the plan, citing an unnamed U.S. official. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland had made clear the Liberal government had no time for a plan to send hundreds of troops to the border to boost security.

“Canada is strongly opposed to this U.S. proposal and we have made that opposition very, very clear ... this is an entirely unnecessary step which we would view as damaging to our relationship,” Freeland told a news conference.

“The public health situation does not require such action,” she said, noting Washington had yet to take a final decision.

Speaking at the White House, Trump appeared to lack details on the possible troop deployment and said he would look into the matter.

He said it would be “equal justice” since the U.S. military had deployed to play a support role on the border with Mexico.

A U.S. official familiar with the matter said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection was stressed on the northern border because virtually all patrol officers and border crossing officials were shifted to the southern border, where they are supplemented by a brigade from the 101st Airborne Division, a Marine battalion and National Guard personnel.

The Canada-U.S. border stretches 8,891 km (5,525 miles) and is a crossing point for one of the world’s largest bilateral trading relationships.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier that Ottawa was in touch with U.S. authorities and would adjust border security measures if needed.

The United States now has the most coronavirus cases in the world, with over 82,000 infections and more than 1,200 deaths.

Canada, with a population about 1/9 that of its southern neighbor, has reported 4,043 coronavirus cases and 39 deaths.

The state of New York, which shares a border with Canada, has been an epicenter of the U.S. outbreak.



Tim Currier, the mayor of Massena, New York, a town of 13,000 people 9 miles (15 km) from the border, said a deployment could spark panic if it were not communicated properly.

“I’m concerned about how citizens look at that,” he said.

Canada is no longer accepting migrants who walk over the border at unofficial crossings, instead sending them back to the United States. Washington plans to return them to their countries of origin.

Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration policy with the Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center, said the undefended U.S.-Canada border had long been a point of pride.

“I have not seen any reporting whatsoever of an increased threat posture at the U.S.-Canada border,” she said. “Did we not have other stuff that troops could and should be doing?”



Reporting by David Ljunggren and Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay and Ted Hesson in Washington, Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Lisa Shumaker and Peter Cooney

‘Chinese virus’: Americans who rage against political correctness are also the most xenophobic — and most likely to vote Trump in 2020

March 24, 2020 Samuel L Perry, Religion Dispatches


Admittedly, Trump’s initial references to “the Chinese Virus” earlier in March seemed rather ad-hoc. Though clearly xenophobic in context and implication, it seemed that Trump was casually parroting the language of other far-Right commentators like Charlie Kirk. Within the past week, however, Trump has ramped up his labeling campaign, often going out of his way to refer to COVID-19 as “the Chinese Virus” in Twitter storms and White House press briefings.

Two key strategies likely drive Trump’s efforts here. Both involve distracting Americans from his own administration’s failings at dealing with the coronavirus earlier on. The first is simply to blame China, laying responsibility for America’s situation solely at their feet. The fact that a Chinese propaganda director recently suggested the virus may have originated with American soldiers who brought it to China provided the perfect (and tacitly justifiable) motivation for Trump to remind the world forcefully and repeatedly where the virus originated.

The second factor also involves distraction from Trump’s failings, but one in which “China” is only incidental. They are merely a stand-in for all “dangerous outsiders.” By repeatedly and brazenly referring to “the Chinese Virus,” and provoking a media backlash against the xenophobic implications of his language, Trump wishes to remind his base who our internal threats are: politically correct liberals who care more about defending foreigners than they do the American people.

Though Trump has previously raged against political correctness explicitly, and indeed, campaigned on it in 2016, when it comes to this recent COVID-19 labeling campaign, other far-Right thought-leaders have been doing this for him. For example, in a March 14th interview on Fox News, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton stated, “Anyone who complains that it’s racist or xenophobic to call this virus the Chinese coronavirus or the Wuhan virus is a politically correct fool, and they ought not to be listened to about anything.”

And March 20th, Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly told Glenn Beck: “The worst thing in this pandemic virus outside of the actual illness itself of course is the political [sic] correct media still, still peddling garbage that hurts the American people.” Quoting an ABC News reporter, O’Reilly said in a whiny, mocking voice, “A lot of people think it’s racist if you call it the Chinese Virus. …It’s sickening.”

But survey data confirm that white Americans—like President Trump, Senator Tom Cotton, Bill O’Reilly, or their followers—who attack politically correct language as the enemy are in fact the most likely to hold racist or xenophobic views. In a nationally representative survey fielded in February 2020, we asked Americans to indicate how much they agreed with statements about using politically correct language. We also asked Americans for their views on refugees from the Middle East and America’s control over its Southern border.







In the first figure [left], we see that, as Americans’ agreement with the statement “Too many people are easily offended these days over language” increases, the more likely they are to believe that the federal government should do more to secure the Southern border and that Middle Eastern refugees pose a terrorist threat.

In the second figure [below, right], we see a similar trend, but in the opposite direction. The more strongly Americans disagree with the statement “People need to be more careful with language to avoid offending people,” the more likely they are to hold xenophobic views about refugees from the Middle East and to want stricter border control.






In sum: both figures show that white Americans who voice the strongest opinions against politically correct language also hold the strongest anti-immigrant attitudes.


Just as important, they are also the group most likely to plan on voting Trump in 2020.



The last figure [left] shows the percentage of white Americans who indicate they plan on voting Trump in 2020 by their level of agreement with our two statements regarding politically correct language. Nearly 80% of white Americans who strongly disagree that “People need to be more careful with language to avoid offending people,” or who strongly agree that “Too many people are easily offended these days over language,” intend to vote for Trump in November.

Seen in light of these data, Trump’s dual strategy is clear. By unapologetically referring to COVID-19 as “the Chinese Virus,” Trump is first able to signal to his white base that he too is disdainful of scheming, disease-ridden outsiders. But he can also intentionally provoke a backlash against his hurtful and xenophobic language, which he and his followers can dismiss as leftist “political correctness.” Trump shores up support against both a perceived external threat (immigrants) and an internal threat (liberals) with a single dangerous and offensive swipe.

Some Mormons see a message in the Angel Moroni’s fallen trumpet




By Christopher James Blythe, Religion Dispatches March 24, 2020

AMERICAN NEW AGE (19TH CENTURY) NON CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CULT OF JOHN SMITH, SPIRITUALIST, TABLE RAPPER, FRAUDULENT FREEMASON



On March 18, 2020, at 7:09 in the morning, residents of Salt Lake City and the surrounding counties of northern Utah awoke to a 5.7 magnitude earthquake that struck 10 miles outside the city. Fortunately, there appears to have been no loss of life, although there was some property damage throughout the area. The iconic Salt Lake City Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced only minor damage. The 12-foot angel standing on the building’s highest tower was shaken to such an extent that the trumpet once positioned to its lips was dislodged and plummeted to the base of the spire. Coincidentally, the building had closed on December 29, 2019, for renovation and a seismic upgrade.

A spokesperson for the LDS Church noted, “This event emphasizes why this project is so necessary to preserve this historic building and create a safer environment for all our patrons and visitors.” Individual members of the Church, however, looked for greater prophetic significance than offered in the statement on the building’s wellbeing.

Knowing the history of the temple and its iconic angel will better explain why the damaged statue might engender a sense of providence. The Salt Lake Temple is one of more than 150 temples, but it’s where Church leaders—apostles and prophets—meet weekly and hold prayer.

Brigham Young had seen the building in a vision shortly after the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. He believed this temple would fulfill a verse in Isaiah that “in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” Construction began in 1853. In 1892, the Angel Moroni was placed on its tower and a year after that the building was dedicated.

While an angel had appeared on the weathervane of the Nauvoo Temple in the 1840s, this was the first time the iconic figure of the trumpeting angel Moroni was used. Similar angels would later appear on nearly all the church’s temples across the globe. The figure recalls the appearance of the angel Moroni to an adolescent Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter-day Saint tradition, in 1820s New York. The angel directed Smith to the location of the Gold Plates that would become the Book of Mormon.

Before his death in the fifth century, Moroni, a proto-American Indian, had deposited these records near Smith’s home. (In the Latter-day Saint tradition, angels are deceased humans—not so distinct from the Roman Catholic understanding of Saints.) Latter-day Saints associate this appearance of Moroni with a verse from John the Revelator’s vision of “another angel fly[ing] in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Moroni serves both as a symbol of Latter-day Saint heritage but also of the Saints’ responsibility to preach the gospel in the last days.

When news that Moroni’s trumpet had been dashed from his hand, there was a predictably varied response among Latter-day Saints and others who looked for significance in the moment. Some religious critics of the Church of Jesus Christ suggested that Latter-day Saints should consider themselves divinely rebuked. Others drew on an obscure item of folklore (as much about what Latter-day Saints believe as an example of what they really believe) that held the statue would be animated and blow its horns at the Second Coming. This prophecy had now been proven false, they claimed.

It’s possible the most common response to the news were humorous suggestions that the red state of Utah had been divinely charged to give up its support for President Trump and the Republican Party. Brandon Dew tweeted, “Even Moroni is tired of Trump.”

Some called it “the ultimate mic drop,” while others posted images of Moroni with his arm still upraised alongside either Judd Nelson’s character from The Breakfast Club thrusting his fist into the air or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s winged character from Tooth Fairy.

And last but not least, Dwayne Johnson as the Salt Lake City Temple's Angel Moroni statue. (END) pic.twitter.com/Ws1JM1fp0Z
— Court Mann (@TheCourtMann) March 23, 2020

A more serious response came from Latter-day Saint prophecy enthusiasts who looked for prophetic and even apocalyptic meanings in the fallen trumpet. A popular meme included an image of Moroni without his trumpet and a passage taken from the Hebrew prophet Amos interspersed with commentary:

“That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Beth-el: [Bet-is House] [el- is GOD] and the horns [trumpets] of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. *When the trumpet fell off from Moroni on salt lake temple today.”

While this sounded reasonable to many, the following day, several Latter-day Saint scholars of Hebrew had criticized the faulty reading of the passage and pointed out that horns referred to the actual shape of a Hebrew altar, not to a musical instrument.

Another popular interpretation among Latter-day Saints seeking a prophetic explanation has been that the missing trump is a sign that the church will stop its missionary outreach. One of Joseph Smith’s revelations declared, “Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor. … And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people.” (D&C 88:81;88)

As a result, Latter-day Saints have looked for a time when their missionaries would be “called home” after which there would be an increase in natural disasters and disease leading up to the Second Coming. Two days later, COVID-19 brought about what some have already begun to see as the fulfillment of this prophecy with the Church’s announcement that “In the coming weeks, based upon world conditions, substantial numbers of missionaries will likely need to be returned to their home nations to continue their service.”

Rod Meldrum, author of Prophecies and Promises: The Book of Mormon and the United States of America, is particularly sure of this connection. On March 20, he is quoted as saying: “And so it begins. First Moroni’s trumpet is removed from the SLC temple, heralding the end of the preaching of the gospel to the world and the beginning of woes. Two days later this….”

Northern Utah has been preparing for a major earthquake for some time. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has done extensive work on the buildings surrounding the Salt Lake Temple, an area known as Temple Square. This includes the historic Tabernacle and Assembly Hall. An official statement noted that the earthquake caused no structural damage to the temple or other surrounding buildings.

Satanists want you to respond to the pandemic with compassion — and reason

By Joseph Laycock, Religion Dispatches
March 24, 2020



The Coronavirus is changing America’s religious landscape as social distancing forces most religious communities to cancel in-person services and invent new online forms of worship. One might assume that Satanists would be unaffected by social distancing or even take a misanthropic delight in it.

In 2017, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson advised Satanic Temple co-founder Lucian Greaves to “crawl back into your hole.” So now that people of all faiths are hunkering in their respective holes, how is The Satanic Temple (TST) faring?

On March 15, TST co-founder Lucien Greaves released a statement announcing that all in-person meetings were cancelled and urging everyone to engage in social distancing. The statement invoked the first of TST’s Seven Tenets, that “One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason,” and reminded readers they have a moral duty to prevent others from becoming infected. It announced plans for an online support system to combat the stress of isolation that will include regular chats, trivia contests, and even virtual “bar nights.” In closing, Greaves stated:

or those upset and saddened at this unexpected turn of events, I promise you, at the end of this there is a massive Satanic celebration to be had, and we will come through this stronger, and more deeply committed, as a community and global Satanic family.

Love,
Lucien Greaves


Civic duty? Family? Love? This is surprising language coming from a group that’s been branded as “a liberal, anti-Christian, anti-life group” and “tiresome provocateurs.” RD called Greaves to get a better sense of how he sees a global pandemic as a Satanist.

Are you social distancing at the moment?

Of course. I was supposed to be touring with Satanic Planet [an experimental music project]. Nobody wants to be the first to pull the plug. A lot of people were playing chicken with this. But everyone must practice social distancing. I think a lot of people still don’t realize how bad this is going to get. We don’t want to spread a virus that can kill the immunocompromised and the aged. That’s horrific.

That attitude might surprise people who regard TST as an “anti-life group.”

We do take life seriously. Everyone has a responsibility to reduce suffering where we can.

That sounds like the First Tenet. Do the other Tenets also inform TST’s response to the pandemic?

Definitely the Fifth Tenet: Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs. We have to defer to scientists on this, especially the projection models of epidemiologists. We also have to reject conspiracy theories, including blaming the current crisis on the Obama administration.

Any others?

As we become frustrated over the response to pandemic, it’s also important to remember the Sixth Tenet: People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused. It’s easy to get disgusted with people, but we have to be more willing to give people a pass for being wrong. You have to give people room to grow. We have a tendency to endlessly demonize someone even if they are willing to amend their ways.


Some religious groups are framing the pandemic as divine punishment or otherwise part of “God’s plan.” As a member of an atheistic religion, do you see any meaning in this pandemic?

Well speaking only for myself, I think this does say something about the treatment of animals. This virus was incubated in wild animal markets where animals are kept crammed together in a state of extreme stress, often forced to live in pools of the combined waste of multiple species. When this is over, I hope there are calls to put an end to such practices.

I am also hopeful that we learn from this that scientific warnings have to be taken seriously. We learned the hard way that the coronavirus is not “fake news.” Now maybe some people will rethink their attitudes about climate change.



Can you say more about this online support system you’re trying to build?

We are trying to keep everyone positive and connected. It’s going to be more and more important to set up alternative forms of socializing. I think this a place where we as a religious community can really provide a service to people.

Is it normal for you to end your communications, “Love, Lucien Greaves?” Have you ever done that before?

I guess I can’t recall ever doing that before. I think it just came naturally from the tone I was trying to convey to people

‘Restart the Economy’ is a prayer to a conservative God who demands human sacrifice

By Stephen Young, Religion Dispatches
on March 24, 2020
According to classic interpretations of the Jewish and Christian Bibles, a Canaanite deity named Moloch demanded the sacrifice of children. There is a long history of writing about this bloodthirsty god spanning the ancient world to John Milton’s Paradise Lost to Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” to modern social commentators. One recurring point is that the depravity of Moloch was reflected in his insatiable lust for innocent flesh.

How could anyone worship such a monster?


Readers have drawn further connections: human sacrifice marks not only Moloch as evil, but also the population who offers their children to him. This is the biblical justification given for why Israelites should exterminate Canaanites, the worship of their gods, and their customs from the Promised Land.

But although the prevalent understanding of Moloch as a rapacious child-consuming god falls short in the minds of many scholars,* some deep truth remains. We should absolutely judge a deity by the offerings and piety it demands! Furthermore, what people are willing to sacrifice for their god should likewise be a commentary on their deepest values.

Let us call this an ethics of religious responsibility: we are responsible for the deities we follow. Many people tacitly accept this point when they opine that folks who follow other gods, or at least not their God, deserve to burn in hell. So, if one’s deity demands things like human sacrifice, genocide, or partiality to rapists and autocrats, then this should give some pause.

In a society founded partly on the concept of religious liberty people can, in theory, choose to worship such deities. But in a society also founded on the concept of free speech, shouldn’t people who follow these gods at least have to answer uncomfortable questions about their sociopathic deities? Why should it be bad manners to question people who worship such gods instead of bad manners to promote those gods in the first place?






You can see where this is going. At the moment an influential contingent of conservative leaders and commentators are advocating that we put a stop to measures meant to suppress the spread of COVID-19. Most of these measures fall under the category of social distancing, which has deeply impacted corporations by restricting us from our usual purchasing and employment movements. Combined with broader uncertainties brought by the pandemic, the Stock Market has likewise been tanking.

The developing cry to end social distancing predictably centers on reversing these obstacles. “Restart the economy” is becoming a refrain. President Trump has already tweeted in this direction: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.”

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020



His top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, has spelled-out things further: “The economic cost to individuals is just too great … we’re going to have to make some difficult trade-offs.” And one conservative talk radio host went still further, declaring that “If given the choice between dying and plunging the country I love into a Great Depression, I’d happily die.” Better for a whole lot more people to suffer and die than for the free market to be stifled any further. It’s the economy, stupid!

Given the prevalence of religious voices among support for Trump, perhaps we could think about our situation with the ethics of religious responsibly as outlined above. A simple translation of “restart the economy” suggests itself: the economy or the free market is God. It rules over and defines reality. And this God demands human sacrifice to rescue us from Coronavirus.

Those who know our history will not be surprised. The God of the Economy has long subsisted on human sacrifice in ways that reveal his character. When the Cotton Gin was invented, enslavers needed to increase cotton picking output to feed the machines in order to realize their profits. As Edward Baptist has vividly documented, they didn’t hire more workers or even invest in the large scale acquisition of additional slaves. Instead they intensified their system of slavery into an even more brutal form that exponentially multiplied suffering as a technology to increase production. The God of the Economy got his fill of human flesh.

If the blood of human sacrifice was the seed of the free market, its god remains hungry as ever today. As historians such as Kim Phillips-Fein, Kevin Kruse, and Lawrence Glickman have shown, wealthy followers of this god have been successfully proclaiming their gospel as the exclusive path to freedom for generations.

Their message now seems obvious and their god feels like the only option. These disciples are sick of losing wealth to social distancing, even if it saves lives. They want their economy of the pre-Coronavirus status quo back. It’s the economy that made them rich.

The surprise is not that this god’s followers are eager to offer human sacrifices, but that anyone is still shocked they would offer the rest of us to him or try to sell us on this approach by warning against the “the false god of ‘saving lives.’”

We should, at the least, stop tiptoeing around this god’s followers as though it’s bad manners to identify him as evil or un-civil to make them own that he is the real Moloch. And if their economy is Moloch, why don’t we demand that our leaders serve a new god, or replace them with leaders who aren’t Moloch’s disciples? Surely there are gods to whom we can turn now whose values are health and human flourishing as opposed to bloodthirsty greed. It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to figure it out.

*As biblical scholars such as Francesca Stavrakopoulou and Heath Dewrell have argued, there was no Moloch deity in ancient Canaan. The biblical passages traditionally thought to name him instead refer to a kind of sacrificial offering (mlk). Biblical writers delegitimized this offering—and the idea that their God had commanded it!—by rendering it foreign and evil. Ancient interpreters transformed the mlk offering into a depraved foreign deity, Moloch or Molech. And readers have been off to the races ever since.

‘She drank the Kool-Aid’: Viewers baffled as Dr. Birx ‘incinerates her credibility’ by praising Trump for being ‘attentive to scientific literature’

IN TRUE TRUMPIAN STYLE SHE ATTACKED THE PRESS
March 27, 2020 By Sky Palma


Speaking on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s Faith Nation this Wednesday, White House response coordinator for the US Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Deborah Birx, talked about the role faith communities can play in the effort to stem the outbreak, both by “giving out accurate and important information and ensuring that everyone in the household feels engaged in their community even though they’re at home themselves.”

At one point during the interview, Dr. Birx praised President Trump for what she said is his attentiveness to science.

“He is so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data, and I think his ability to analyze and integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit during these discussions about medical issues,” she said.


"[Trump is] so attentive to the scientific literature & the details & the data. I think his ability to analyze & integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit” — this is shocking, hackish stuff from Dr. Birx. pic.twitter.com/c2phsRYaJs
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 27, 2020

Birx’s comment baffled many of Trump’s critics on Twitter, who believe his downplaying of the virus’ threat in the early days of the outbreak is directly responsible for the fact that it’s currently spiraling out of control.

Ok, that’s it. Dr Birx just threw all her credibility out the window.

Trump is NOT attentive to anything but his immediate personal needs, and he CAN’T analyze or integrate a damn thing. https://t.co/9DJPRwiMrf
- Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) March 27, 2020

The sane, science-respecting half of the United States will not be able to trust Birx going forward after watching her incinerate her credibility in a spasm of genuflections at Dear Leader. Which is a damn shame. https://t.co/78lbLA0mXE
— Dan Murphy (@bungdan) March 27, 2020

Sad—no, infuriating—to see Dr. Birx, a seemingly competent professional, utter such demonstrable nonsense during a pandemic that has escalated into a national health and economic crisis because of Trump’s inattentiveness, inaction, and incompetence. Flattery will get us killed. https://t.co/rfHtKU4HkH
— Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) March 27, 2020

Cmon. I worked for Obama for five years. He is one of the smartest people Ive met (& Ive worked most of my life at a university). No Obama official EVER talked on tv about him this way. & Dr. Birx is talking about Trump, not Obama. We need experts talking facts right now ! https://t.co/b7YVszTPHv
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) March 27, 2020

Dr Birx is now a card carrying member of the Trumpism cult, and as such, we must stop listening to EVERYTHING she has to say if we want to increase our chances of surviving this existential threat.https://t.co/zYB9kZSTZL https://t.co/p0JOI4XB0b

— Adam Rifkin  

(@ifindkarma) March 27, 2020


She’s done drank the koolaid.
— LisaB (@6bottoms) March 27, 2020


Has Trump infected her with GOPID-45?
-- Marc Goldstein (@marcgoldstein_) March 27, 2020

May God help us. None of what she is saying is true and surely she knows it, so that makes her a Trump cultist.
— Adeline (Recognize Trumpism as cult worship) (@HonorDecency) March 27, 2020

What does she possibly have to gain by spreading this disinformation? It is so troubling how people in Trump’s orbit sacrifice themselves to toe the Party line. Almost as if they feel threatened…
— whathappensnext (@jsdmd2010) March 27, 2020

Nobody should listen to her anymore
— Katie (@Katie61548) March 27, 2020

The longer you expose yourself to a malignant narcissistic psychopath, you inevitably become more corrupt, tainted or your reputation permanently damaged. Just add her to the long list that’s already been established.
— Robert Covington Jr. (@robcovingtonjr) March 27, 2020