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Florida Church Tells Parishioners ‘Join Us And Be Infected By God’s Holy Corona’

Florida Church Tells Parishioners ‘Join Us And Be Infected By God’s Holy Corona’

Locals are furious after spotting the 'tone-deaf' message

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A church in Florida has come under criticism after it invited parishioners to come and 'be infected by God's Holy corona'.

The Westminster Presbyterian Church in Milton shared the bizarre invitation as the state is currently seeing a staggering number of new coronavirus cases.

Local residents have slammed the insensitive sign with one man saying: "My wife told me about it. She was told by one of her friends. So, we went to go see if it was true.

Pen News

"My reaction was that of disbelief. How could they be so callous?"

Resident Caleb McGrew added: "My first reaction was 'I must've misread this'. I couldn't believe anyone would actually display such tone-deaf foolishness."

He added: "I have seen an overwhelming amount of posts on social media suggesting it's a hoax, or downplaying the seriousness."

Speaking to local news station WEAR-TV, a mother who lives in the area said whoever put up the sign should be ashamed.

She said: "I don't think they actually understand how many people are dying from this. They should be ashamed of themselves."

However, Deacon Bruce Schenck told the news outlet the whole thing was a misunderstanding and that the church wasn't actually inviting people to come and get infected, which is good, I guess?

He explained: "I thought that they would understand that even though it says corona and infected, my idea was people should be infected with the love of Jesus.

"You know, come back to church and get right with everything.

Pen News

"I never thought in my wildest dreams that people would misinterpret what we were trying to say."

Never mind God, this guy certainly has a lot of faith in people.

He went on to say that the church had actually implemented strict safety precautions to try and stop the spread of the virus.

Locals have said they understand the sign wasn't an invitation to come and literally get infected, but say it's still not ideal messaging.

One chap said: "I do not believe that it was an actual invitation to come be infected. It was probably meant to say come get affected by God's holy light, but it was very poorly executed."

The sign has since been changed and now reads: "Join us for God's good news."

Featured Image Credit: Pen News

Topics: Coronavirus, US News, Weird