Avail Yourself Outbreak: A Crisis Of Faith: How Religion Ruined Our Global Pandemic Constructed By Noah Lugeons Released As Hardbound

author sums up the book well in the description, and it seems to me he succeeded in making his point backed up all the way with footnotes.
The author writes like he speaks eg, on the Scathing Atheist and Skeptikrat podcasts ie, he is articulate, acerbic, and funny, At the time of this writing, the Supreme Court was heading down a Christian privilege highway I would love to hear his and Andrew Torres' impressions now that it's gone full tilt well I can actually on the aforementioned and Opening Arguments podcasts.
For those somewhat aware of the immense and insidious power fundamentalist religion has in the U, S. , this read will not surprise but rather provide insight into just how dangerous and fatal its influence can be in light of a pandemic event.
I got this book because I am an avid listener to Noah Lugeons podcasts, His intelligent arguments, biting sarcasm, and vast knowledge are engaging, I got the book to reflect on the past year of the pandemic, thinking that I would be familiar with much of what was shared in the book.
I was so wrong!!! I learned more from the preface of the book also written by an extremely intelligent and funny podcaster, Andrew Torrez than I have learned from a book in recent memory.
Noah continued this knowledge share throughout the book, Wonderful book I learned so much, laughed out loud, and really reflected on the confluence of blunders that got America to the place we are today with COVID.
I look forward to an overall reflection when we are finally done with all of this!! Please Noah!!!
Outbreak: A Crisis of Faith: How Religion Ruined Our Global Pandemic by Noah Lugeons and Andrew Torrez

“Outbreak: A Crisis of Faith” presents the compelling case that the problems associated with the/pandemic were made considerably worse by religious influence.
Host and producer of The Scathing Atheist Noah Lugeons examines how religion made dealing with the COVIDsignificantly worse, Thispage book includes seven chapters broken out by the following three parts:, Precovid,. Covid, and Post Covid.

Positives:
. A wellwritten, wellreasoned and succinct book,
. An interesting topic, the negative impact of religion in handling the pandemic,
. Easy book to follow and fun to read, Lugeons tackle the most interesting aspects of the pandemic and how religion adversely impacted dealing with it, He also does so with clarity,
. Establishes clearly what the main purpose of the book, “In this book, I will present extensive evidence that the problems associated with the/pandemic were made considerably worse by religious institutions, religious leaders, and religious thinking.
”
. Explains how religion hampers science, “But to “trust selectively” is not really to trust, What these people actually do is use science to bolster their existing opinions when it is convenient, and reject it when it is not.
”
. Provocative statements. “Evolution does not just contradict the bible it refutes it, ”
. How religious thinking affects the law, “Medical researchers are at the mercy of religious lawmakers beholden to religious voters who have no interest in learning about the thing theyre opposing.
”
. Provides statements worth repeating. “When reality keeps disproving the perspective youre selling, you either have to find a new perspective or cast doubt on reality, Christianity has opted for the latter, ”
. Trump the dishonest broker. “There is not a person reading this book who couldnt fake Chrsitianity more convincingly than Donald Trump, ”
. Provides a brief list of the players who formed part of his theocratic administration, “Pence rose to national prominence in March ofwhen, as the governor of Indiana, he sabotaged that states economy with a “religious freedom” bill that would allow individual business owners to opt out of serving LGBTQ people.
”
. Examples of lies with impact spewed by the religious right, “Falwell spent another minute musing about how COVIDmight be a biological weapon manufactured by North Korea a speculation sourced to a restaurant owner he talked to the other night, presented on an ostensible news show, and not refuted in any way by the shows hosts.
”
. How churches cross the wall of separation, “And, for the everyeth time in a row, the federal government stipulated that houses of worship were ineligible for relief money, This has been the case every time federal aid money has ever been granted, But that wasnt enough to keep Texas churches from crying “persecution” and suing the government, ”
. Fake news! “The “fake news” phenomenon is largely an outgrowth of Americas decreasing trust in expertise, ”
. The antivaccine machine and religion, “The condemnation of vaccines and the effort to tie them to the Mark of the Beast from the Book of Revelation is a favored theme among Christian conspiracy theorists, perhaps best exemplified in the person of Rick Wiles.
”
. How policy should take place, “While Americans should enjoy the freedom to believe whatever they choose, policy should be determined entirely by observable fact, ”
. Footnotes provided.

Negatives:
. No formal bibliography.
. Not all the footnotes links worked,
. Lack graphical supplementary material that could have added value to the excellent narrative,

In summary, I really enjoyed this book, Lugeons did a great job of making the case that religion had a significant adverse impact on how the Trump administration and society in general handled the pandemic.
Religion through its political power and influence hampered science and as a result more deaths and sickness occurred, I highly recommend it!

Further suggestions: “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic” by Bill Gates, “God is not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, “Alpha God” by Hector Garcia, “The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture” by Darrel Ray, “Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible” by Jerry A.
Coyne, “God and the Multiverse” by Victor J, Stenger, “Why People Believe Weird Things” by Michael Shermer, “The Soul Fallacy” by Julien Musolino, “Nonbeliever Nation” by David Niose, “Freethinkers” by Susan Jacoby, “Nailed” by David Fitzgerald, and “Think” by Guy P.
Harrison. "During the best of times, it is wrong for America to carve out legal exemptions for religious belief, While Americans should enjoy the freedom to believe whatever they choose, policy should be determined entirely by observable fact, " a depressing but extremely important dissection of how religion and one religion in particular Lugeons focuses almost exclusively on American evangelical Christianity harmed the United Statess efforts to combat Covidthrough a combination of science denialism, subversion of rules designed to stop the spread of covid, and scapegoating minorities.


Lugeons is a skilled writer and makes a pretty compelling argument that the United States has put religion and Christianity in particular on a societal pedestal for too long and the favoritism and privilege shown to evangelical conservative Christian people and organizations paved the way for a dangerous covid response in the United States.
the book is well researched and its almost depressing how long the cited sources list is as in, its depressing how many stories and examples there are of Christian churches and groups doing dumb and dangerous shit during a pandemic.


you dont have to be a atheist although both Noah Lugeons and myself are to read this, i think regardless of your personal religious beliefs, you should consider the role that religious institutions played in exacerbating the pandemic,

i will say though, i agree with Lugeons final conclusion for the most part, but i think another major reason the pandemic was so bad in the United States was because of our abysmal healthcare system i support Medicare for All!! and i think this is an essential part of the problem that should be addressed in any discussion about a pandemic.
This doesnt take away from Lugeons writing or argument but i wanted to address it here, As one of the presenters of The Scathing Atheist podcast Noah is one of the best chroniclers of the cancer that is religion, and its effects on America and the world.
His Diatribes are things of beauty each week erudite, witty, and thought provoking and this book continues in this vein, Podcast listeners will have heard some of this over the course of the pandemic, but seeing it all collected in one place really brings it home how far America has to go to be free of religions pernicious influence.
It make

me sad and even upset that a virus coming to America be blamed on people or institutions of faith, This book talks about unfair treatment to other groups while giving unfair hateful talk to people of faith, He also makes this book about how the religious community hates the non religious community, When did vivid and buying cakes have a common ground Vivid did not look at color, sex, religion, or birthplace to, come visit. Everyone HS been touched. Do not put everyone in a one size fits all box, I think someone did you wrong personally and this book is your response to that anger and hurt, Well done, well researched, and scathing report of the damage that evangelical Christians have encouraged and worked to achieve during the Covidpandemic.
Noah Lugeons clearly and convincingly lays the case for how much religiosity is leading us to be a nation denying science and reason.


A warning as you read it: If youve been frustrated by all the “persecution” arguments being made over the last few years that are actually favoring evangelical beliefs, youll find yourself getting fired up again as you read this book.
Fantastic read. I hope some day Noah can revisit and update it when we are all looking back on these times, Not astar book. I don't know why it wont let me change tostars,

Anyway I enjoyed the book and recommend to anyone, Great look at how religion, specifically Evangelical christianity, exacerbated the Covidpandemic in the US, This book does more than portray the difficulties religion gives to fighting the covidpandemic in the United States, It provides a view of how religions mainly the religious rights version has fought against science as a guide to societys problems where it provides a solution.
This includes, pertinent to this book, how it handicaps medical care, It starts off with a preface by Andrew Torres, providing a synopsis of the Supreme Courts ruling when religion has been involved, giving protection against laws meant for everyone, but is provided by the Court religious exemptions.
It is divided into three parts:precovid relating to the handicapping of science and the rise of fake news,the covid period relating how religion made matters worse for the pandemic, anda postcovid phase relating a quick look to the future.


The following are comments based on my reading notes on specific pieces of text, Number in brackets are Kindle page numbers,

“Bigotry against the LGBTQ community is almost exclusively justified on religious grounds, ” It is far from exclusive, A vocal group of transgender exclusionary radical feminists attacks the transgender part of the community from a postmodern perspective, somehow equating social constructs with the impossibility of transgender womens existence, which is what the religious critique does as well.
Both sides are wrong. Religious bigots because of their reliance on the myths of the bible, and the exclusionists because it would actually exclude themselves along with every other gender or make every gender legitimate.


“It is not possible to be a Christian without accepting the sacred precept that Christ, the son of God, died for your sins and then arose three days later.
” Not all Christians believe in the literal truth in this statement, It is mainly evangelical Christians and a portion of Catholics who so believe, Many Christians today do not believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, These are certain sections of mainline churches,

“While it is true that science requires the acceptance of certain first principles, this is a prerequisite to any worldview, Science intentionally minimizes those principles and attempts to justify them logically, And even then, science does not adhere to them dogmatically, The scientific principle that says an object cannot be in two places at the same time was set aside as soon as quantum observations brought it into question.
” Science is judge by the effectiveness in explaining natural phenomenon, And first principles are not any such judgment, but the procedures that guides scientific research,

“In an interview with The Washington Examiner, researcher Daniel Cox explained: Many people reported that the feeling of community that comes with church is irreplaceable in an online setting.
Social pressures to go to church, too, is harder to enforce when fellow congregants cannot see who is and who isnt watching streamed services.
” The social aspects of group meetings are left out in any virtual meeting,

I found this book did a good job explaining the books major premise: That religion interferes with the application of scientific research, especially in the field of medicine.
It is worst than I thought before reading the book, It mounts towards the ludicrous, if it wasnt true,

Anyone interested in the dangers we face as a society from the religious right would be encourage to read this one.
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