(ETH) – Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said this week that Christians are “a little less scared” of COVID-19 because they “believe in eternal life.” “I’m often asked by some of my friends on the other side of the aisle about COVID,” he said last week, “and why does it seem like folks in Mississippi and maybe the mid-South are a little less scared, shall we say.

When we believe in eternal life — when you believe that living on this earth is but a blip on the screen — then you don’t have to be so scared of things.” He doubled down on those comments Monday when a reporter for The Associated Press asked Reeves to clarify his comments.

In response, the governor said he “meant … exactly” what he said. “Now, I feel certain you read the article in which the very sentence after I said what you just asked,” he explained. “I also said that the Bible also teaches us to take necessary precautions.

And, in our state and in our nation right now, there are certainly necessary precautions that we can take with respect to COVID. But I believe very strongly in my faith.” Reeves then cited John 3:16 — “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” — to make his case.

He doubled down on those comments Monday when a reporter for The Associated Press asked Reeves to clarify his comments. In response, the governor said he “meant … exactly” what he said. FULL REPORT