QUEENSRŸCHE's Atheist Singer Blasts SKILLET's Jesus-Loving Frontman Over Anti-Mask Comments

QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre has blasted SKILLET frontman John Cooper over his comments about wearing masks, saying the Christian rocker "believes in a mythical celestial dictator but doesn't believe in science."

Earlier today, BLABBERMOUTH.NETtranscribed portions of the latest episode of Cooper's "Cooper Stuff" podcast in which he called the issue mask wearing "nothing more than theater" and said that "every time I put my mask on, I know that I'm doing something that I do not believe in. In other words, I'm being forced to lie… I'm being forced to jump into something I don't believe, and I'm living by a lie — I'm living by a lie that this mask is actually gonna keep me safe from all harm," he continued. "To acquiesce to the government, which says that I'm believing something that I know that I don't believe. So now I'm basically living in a fantasy world. That frightens me. And every time I put that mask on, that's basically what I think. I know I'm doing this, I know it's show, I know it's theater, I know my overlords don't even believe in it, because if they did, they wouldn't be breaking all of their own rules."

After BLABBERMOUTH.NET published Cooper's stance on mask wearing and shared the article on Facebook, La Torre took to the comments section and chimed in, writing: "Cool, then go volunteer on the Covid floor of a hospital maskless and let us know how that works out. He believes in a mythical celestial dictator but doesn't believe in science. Got it."

La Torre, who is an atheist, told KNAC.COM earlier this year that one of the songs on his debut solo album, "Rejoice In The Suffering", is a commentary on religious charlatans who take advantage of people's weaknesses and fears. "These are the TV evangelists who sell people holy water that came out of the tap," he explained before adding that "I cringe at the idea of people knocking on my door trying to sell me God as though He's a cheeseburger. I mock it and expose the hypocrisy in some of the songs."

Wearing face masks and coverings is recommended, or in some places mandatory, in public spaces to help stop the spread of COVID-19. But anti-maskers think government orders requiring face coverings in public spaces or those put in place by private businesses violate their constitutional rights.

Studies have shown that masks limit the spread of the coronavirus by blocking respiratory droplets that can travel through the air when someone coughs, sneezes or even just speaks. There is also strong evidence to suggest that masks help protect others from catching the virus from the person wearing the mask.

Cooper recently published his first book, titled "Awake & Alive To Truth (Finding Truth In The Chaos Of A Relativistic World)". It "tackles the reigning philosophies of our day of post-modernism, relativism, and the popular view of the goodness of man-and combats these viewpoints by standing on the absolute truth of the Word Of God," according to the book's official description.

In various interviews over the years, Cooper has said that he "always had faith in God" and that his mother was a "Jesus fanatic." He also claimed that he was willing to put his career on the line to take a stand for Christ.