I'm wondering to what extent the religious right is responsible for sowing distrust of scientific expertise to the point that wearing a mask--common sense based on science--has now become a hot-button, politicized issue.

and since Americans' reluctance to wear masks may be at least partially responsible for the increase in deaths, will this lead to any more criticism of the religious right?

To a certain extent my first question is somewhat tough to answer. We know supporters of Trump are now going off on rants on how wearing masks infringes on our individual liberties, public health be damned. And among Trump's most loyal supporters are the religious right.

I guess another way to come at this is to ask to what extent anti-intellectualism as its own historical agent is responsible for mask-wearing being the hill to die on for conspiratorial conservatives. I'd say a lot.

And if we accept that anti-intellectualism as an analytical driver of historical events has politicized science (think climate change), and we know that the religious right is a *major* contributor to anti-intellectualism, then yes, the religious right bears a lot of blame.

thoughts on this, @t_lacy @SethCotlar @HC_Richardson and @LarryGlickman