FAKE NEWS, FAKE PROPHETS: Mis/Disinformation, Public Health, and the COVID-19 Global Pandemic in Nigeria and Beyond: A Christian Narrative

ABSTRACT

Gbule examines the implications of fake news spread by pastors in the midst of the COVID pandemic and how some church leaders used it to advance the narrative that COVID was a health challenge requiring sound scientific solutions. However, he demurs that most Pentecostals and their members seem to have a besieged mentality that is susceptible to fake news and mis/disinformation, in which everything is constructed within the framework apocalypticism. Hence, COVID is likely to be perceived as a sign of the end times. The use of the "God hypothesis" to explain and predict time-space events then becomes a stable diet for these leaders. For these leaders, the spiritual and political have collapsed, and it would be difficult to convince their congregations that the COVID pandemic is a health challenge and not an apocalypse;and that science rather than faith should guide public health measures. Knowing that Pentecostal and charismatic churches make use of the press and social media, as well as other forms of digital media, to share messages with their faith communities, it becomes difficult to track whether their messages reflect real news or a distortion of information.