Some Religious Responses to Novel Coronavirus

After televangelist Jim Bakker suggested on his show that colloidal silver could cure the novel coronavirus, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday that it is suing him as part of a larger effort among law enforcement to crack down on fake treatments for the viral illness.

Bakker, a disgraced TV preacher in Branson, Mo., has long peddled “Silver Solution” as a cure or treatment for a number of aches and ailments, which medical professionals and the federal government have roundly rejected. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is asking a judge for a temporary restraining order to stop him from hawking the bogus cure as a way to treat coronavirus. The virus has so far infected more than 1,000 people and killed 31 in the United States as the federal government scrambles to control its spread.

According to the lawsuit, Bakker and the show are “falsely promising to consumers that Silver Solution can cure, eliminate, kill or deactivate coronavirus and/or boost elderly consumers’ immune systems when there is, in fact, no vaccine, potion, pill, potion or other product available to treat or cure coronavirus disease 2019″ (continued).