Merciless Tennessee Pastor Says He’ll Ban Mask Wearers From Church

A Tennessee pastor plans to buck any guidance on mask-wearing, telling his congregation during a Sunday sermon that he will ban those who wear masks. Pastor Greg Locke, of Global Vision Baptist Church in Mount Juliet, blasted COVID-19 as “Democrat games” and called the Delta variant, which has led a new surge of the virus in every state, “nonsense.” “If they go through round two and you start showing up with all these masks and nonsense, I will ask you to leave,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. Locke has been a reverent supporter of baseless conspiracy theories, including the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen and that QAnon would put an end to a nonexistent child sex-trafficking ring. “I don'’t need to be a jerk for Jesus, but I’m not going to kowtow down to a wicked godless culture,” he said Sunday.

The CDC, using actual scientific evidence, plans to issue guidance Tuesday recommending masks for vaccinated individuals in areas where community transmission is high.