But first we go to the United States. 90-year-old TV evangelist Pat Robertson received a phone call on his program by a man named John. He had a very specific question about the coronavirus: whether it is caused by same-sex marriage, abortion and the anti-Israel mentality. If guests at a wedding, regardless of the genders of the bridal couple, are too close together, you can indeed become infected. But Robertson had a different answer because according to him, John was right. “You know, I think you put your finger on something very important,’’ the presenter said, ‘’We have broken the covenant that God made with the mankind. We have violated his covenant.’’ He added: ‘’We’ve allowed this terrible plague to spread throughout our society. And it’s a small wonder God would hold us guilty. But the answer is, you know, you confess your sins and forsake them. Then he heals the land.’’

Then Ukraine. There, an LGBT + organization filed a complaint against one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country. The person in question, Patriarch Filaret, claimed in a TV interview that the coronavirus is a result of same-sex marriage. Olena Shevchenko of the LGBT + organization Insight explained to Reuters news agency their motivation for filing a complaint: ‘’Our aim is to show people that there is no longer place for such statements from church leaders in Ukraine,’’ But according to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Filaret has done nothing wrong and is free to express his opinion.

In the Netherlands, a complaint was made against a religious leader for statements about the coronavirus. In Krimpen aan den IJssel, a resident has criticized the local pastor Anthonie Kort for linking corona to LGBT+ people. The pastor had written a warning letter to the city council, in which he made a link between corona, abortion and euthanasia, among other things. People who do not conform to the traditional male-female image are also to blame according to the letter. ‘’The calling sins that go against the order of creation must be banished. If not, we and they will have a heavier judgment on us,” the pastor wrote. According to Reverend Kort, the city council must act, because “if the Lord continues with His judgment, the houses will soon be vacant because there is no longer a resident. Death will then wander around without mercy."

Finally, the Australian Jewish radio station J-AIR had to apologize for the comments of one of the guests on its broadcast. Rabbi Mendel Kessin was firmly convinced that the coronavirus is “an instrument” of God to wipe out the “major problems” on earth. Homosexuals are one of those problems, as he says they go against human nature. According to the rabbi, God is already 98% finished, ‘’however, there are certain problems that must be addressed by God in order for the redemption to actually happen.’’ Kessin is convinced that the coronavirus is a designer drug that will remove the last ‘problems’ from the earth (including homosexuals). J-AIR has apologized and took the broadcast offline.

These four are not the only religious leaders to have made a connection between corona and the LGBT+ community. We previously wrote part 1 of this article. If you want to know what happened to the rabbi from that article: he tested positive for Covid-19 himself.