Religious Ignorance Kills: Landon Spradlin, a Virginia pastor who claimed the “mass hysteria” around the coronavirus pandemic was part of a media plot against Trump, has died from the virus.

ABC News reports:

Landon Spradlin’s family never got to say goodbye. The 66-year-old father and husband from Virginia died due to complications from COVID-19 on Wednesday morning in North Carolina. While on the way home from a mission trip, Spradlin collapsed and was taken to a hospital in Concord, North Carolina. He was eventually put on a ventilator as his condition worsened.

According to reports, Spradlin, a 66-year-old Christian “musical evangelist,” fell ill while on a missionary trip to New Orleans with his wife.

Friendly Atheist reports Spradlin went to New Orleans to “wash it from its Sin and debauchery.”

On his Facebook page Spradlin shared a misleading meme attempting to minimize COVID-19, comparing the virus to the swine flu, and suggesting that the response to the coronavirus pandemic was media created “mass hysteria” to damage Trump:

Spradlin also shared a post from a pastor claiming that a missionary in South Africa “protected” himself from the bubonic plague with the “Spirit of God.” A quote from the post reads:

As long as I walk in the light of that law [of the Spirit of life], no germ will attach itself to me.

The stupid, it kills.

The following is a sample of the reactions to Spradlin’s death via Twitter:

Christian pastor Landon Spradlin, who thought COVID-19 is just ‘mass hysteria’ is among the first in Virginia to die from virus. Rip. pic.twitter.com/TtsTLASsZH — AC Sandino (@KarencaCarvajal) March 26, 2020

On March 13, Pastor Landon Spradlin shared this post suggesting #COVID19 is a hoax. On March 24th he died of that hoax. You can thank Trump and @FoxNews for perpetuating that narrative. This is not a game.https://t.co/t2hgdnBLXH — Keenan Cobb �� � (@keenancobb) March 26, 2020

Landon Spradlin was a 66-year-old Christian “musical evangelist” who had previously shared opinions that the pandemic was simply “mass hysteria” from the media. He fell ill while on a trip to New Orleans. He has become one of the first deaths in Virginia from coronavirus. — Duty To Warn � (@duty2warn) March 26, 2020

Landon Spradlin was a pastor. On FB, he shared a meme dismissing the media’s reaction to COVID-19 as mass hysteria.

He also shared a post that discussed protecting oneself from the plague with “the spirit of God”

Landon Spradlin died at 4am Wednesday morning.

BE CAREFUL. BE SAFE https://t.co/aFTKISACMZ — RJBIII ✍️ (@RolandB3) March 26, 2020

Bottom line: Landon Spradlin, a Virginia pastor who claimed the “mass hysteria” around the response to the coronavirus pandemic was part of a media plot against Trump, has died from the virus.