Many churches around the world defied commonsense rules of social distancing and quarantine because the common good of public health conflicted with their personal and institutional ability to conduct business as usual, including the collection of in-person offerings. Misplaced, constrained, or absolutized loyalty, we now see, can be lethal. That fact is obvious in death cults like Jonestown, when the poisoned Kool-Aid is literal. It is less obvious but no less lethal when followers drink metaphorical Kool-Aid by defying public health guidelines or refusing to get vaccinations, or by denying
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