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Apparently, the Moral Majority once supported the wearing of face masks (to stop a disease that was not airborne). First ran across this when teaching about @anthonympetro's work on AIDS and American religion.
The use of face masks was embraced by many religious groups during the flu epidemic of 1918. From @WordandWay (12/19/1918): "The Baptist Record of Iowa states that the convention held in Des Moines two weeks ago was a 'masked convention.'"
There is considerable historical amnesia about past acceptance of masks and social distancing, which are viewed as unprecedented attacks on religious liberty by some. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2020/09/evangelist-billy-grahams-granddaughter-and-son-rail-against-public-health-measures-older-than-grandpa/
The Moral Majority was not alone in its misguided use of face masks during the early years of the AIDS crisis. Randy Shilts writes about their use in And the Band Played On.
And, of course, Dr. Anthony Fauci was a central player in the public health response to both HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, though he advocated very different responses to each.
In 2020 Cissie Graham Lynch ( Franklin Graham's daughter) used her RNC speech to both warn against transgender youth on sports teams and condemn COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings as an effort by the left to silence religion. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/cissie-graham-lynch-attacks-transgender-rights-rnc-speech-n1238168
Graham Lynch also complained that "Democratic leaders tried to ban church services" during COVID-19, implying this was unprecedented.
Ironically, Billy Graham was born one month after state officials called for the closing of churches and schools in 1918. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2020/09/evangelist-billy-grahams-granddaughter-and-son-rail-against-public-health-measures-older-than-grandpa/
Ironically, Billy Graham was born one month after state officials called for the closing of churches and schools in 1918. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2020/09/evangelist-billy-grahams-granddaughter-and-son-rail-against-public-health-measures-older-than-grandpa/
For more on face masks and religion, see @lesliedorroughs at the Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-masks-are-a-religious-issue-144391
The Moral Majority Report's image of the mask wearing family served as a prop, not as a public health recommendation. The point was to emphasize the threat ("Homosexual Diseases Threaten American Families"). And yet is assumes that surgical masks protect.
The image of the family in surgical masks is mentioned in many treatments of AIDS and the religious right. The focus is on the fear, which is not directed at masks but at the perceived threat to families like this one. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22masks%22+%22Moral+Majority%22+%22AIDS%22&safe=active&sxsrf=ALeKk02Z-Uu7eFiYro0PQRz0K5a0bxGCfA:1599314678170&source=lnms&tbm=bks&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6qpq6l9LrAhUOTawKHRdTDrUQ_AUoAXoECAsQCQ&biw=1536&bih=754
