The YouTube prayer channel started during Covid that’s causing a stir. Its organizers believe it’s the answer to helping to counter the spread of the disease.
(CNN) — When a YouTube prayer channel started during the coronavirus outbreak, its creators hoped to demonstrate that they are “strong and resilient like Jesus.”
But the creators of the channel have found themselves the targets of a public relations backlash that has drawn a strong line between them and the religious leaders who started the channel, saying it is in conflict with their faith.
As people around the world suffer through a global outbreak of the new coronavirus, it has been an internet gold rush from the earliest days.
Some have taken to the internet to create an echo-chamber of “wisdom” for their fellow human beings. Others have shared their experiences of the virus or even found ways to help out in their communities.
One such video, titled “We are all in this together,” has attracted over 600,000 likes as of Tuesday morning. It is also stirring up controversy: It was created by two Muslim American YouTube users, who call themselves “God and Jesus” on the social media website. They say they started the channel because they believe the pandemic is the “beginning of the end” — the end of the world — and their hearts bleeds for those who are suffering.
Another channel of videos, this one called “YouTube’s ‘God-Who-Ate-More,’” has drawn more than 400,000 views. The creators of this channel believe they are doing their small part to show that God exists and “every life matters.”
While both groups have put their faith on display in the hopes of healing the coronavirus pandemic, their videos are sparking a lively debate about the religious implications of religious faith and whether they should be taken at face value, or questioned.
Their comments, which critics have blasted for being homophobic and Islamophobic, are being taken out of context.
“My religion is my reason