Science? Bah! It's those damned homosexuals again!
Have you seen the latest ultra-conservative preacher's assertion that the current storm on record -- Hurricane Sandy -- is our fault? The LGBT community that is. You know the story, these preachers can't help themselves, every time there is a devastating weather event, it's because of the gays and lesbians. Now, hurricane Sandy has already plowed through the Caribbean, causing untold damage, and sadly, the deaths of some 69 souls and is bearing down on the east coast of the US. Rather than mobilizing their religious brethren in community efforts for rescue or other assistance to those in harms way, these "men of the cloth" instead use the tragedy once again to stir up their sinister brand of hatred for the LGBT community.
Of course, there is a long history of this false prophecy fear mongering among the hardliners of the religious right. John McTernan is only one of a sad list of so-called Christian leaders who regularly employ such tactics to get attention. There's Pat Robertson, who has famously asserted that the LGBT community is responsible for Hurricane Katrina. Sept. 11, according to Jerry Falwell, is the evildoing of our community as well. Fred Phelps has his own special niche blaming the deaths of U.S. service members on our country's "acceptance" of homosexuality. Presumably, if we were all imprisoned or worse, all casualties of war and every natural disaster would cease. Our military would be invincible, impervious to every bullet or bomb, and never again would we see a hurricane, earthquake, or tornado, I guess. Wow.
What about science, you say? Hogwash! Scientific theories regarding climate change and evolution get in the way of the fire and brimstone scare tactics. Better to relegate groups of citizens to the realm of godless heathens, responsible for every ill of humanity than to accept reasoning or scientific theory. These same types of preachers once used race to demonize and blame, but now that's passé, and besides they can get a lot more fundamentalist churches on their side on the issue of homosexuality. Ahh, now here's common ground for biblical ultra-fundamentalists, regardless of race.
I realize that these types of preachers have always tried to use images of "vile" human behaviors to justify what they warn is God's wrath, and many times the message strays into the demonization of a particular group. Jews, blacks, Asians, communists, Muslims, Catholics, Gays and Lesbians, have all been targets of the same ideology at different points in history. Of course, forces of nature that we cannot control are events most easily exploited to summon the images of the wrath of a vengeful god, and who better to blame for terrible misfortune than some "other" group? Sadly, it's a recurring pattern for those who supposedly are God's messengers to the world, regardless of religious affiliation. I'd like to think these folks would better serve their fellow citizens by demonstrating consistent charity and love. Tell your flock how to unite for the good of humanity, especially in times of hardship or natural disaster. If all of these preachers tried it, imagine the good they might actually accomplish.