Scott Lively, the embattled evangelist currently on trial for inciting human rights abuses against the LGBT community in Uganda, has doubled down on his combative rhetoric this week.
One day after the "Kill the Gays" bill supporter appeared in Massachusetts federal court, the conservative Christian gave an interview with Sandy Rios of the American Family Association, in which he claimed Noah's Biblical flood was punishment from God for the "writing of wedding songs to homosexual marriage."
Right Wing Watch obtained audio of the interview with the AFA, a group known to counteract the "homosexual agenda," the Southern Poverty Law Center notes.
From the interview:
We need to remember that in the time leading up to the Flood what the rabbis teach about the last straw for God before He brought the Flood was when they started writing wedding songs to homosexual marriage and Jesus said that you’ll know the End Times because it will be like the days of Noah.
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The flood, which is mentioned in the Old Testament, was said to have swept away all of civilization, preserving only Noah, his family and his collection of two of each species of animal.
Lively goes on to say that since the cataclysmic flood, homosexual marriage has never been as celebrated and accepted as it is now -- another sign that the world will soon end:
I think this is the issue of the End Times, homosexuality. It’s present, if you do a careful investigation of all the scriptures dealing with this from the beginning and all the way to the end, God is painting a very clear picture that this represents the outer extent of rebellion against Him in a society and the last thing that happens before wrath comes.
This is not the first time the LGBT community has been blamed for the Great Flood, however. In July, Alabama pastor Aaron Fruh told American Family Radio that God brought the flood because "[He] knew that the people on the earth were going to destroy themselves through same-sex marriage."
This is the second time Lively has spoken with the AFA this week.
Bryan Fischer, one of the AFA's most vocal representatives, previously praised Lively's efforts to counter Uganda's impending "homosexualization." (Opponents, on the other hand, claim that Lively's activities in 2009 led to the drafting of a bill -- often referred to as the "Kill the Gays" bill -- that imposes harsh penalties on "the offense of homosexuality," The New York Times notes.)
Glossing over these aspects of Lively's activism, Fischer claimed a liberal conspiracy was attempting to "destroy" opponents of same-sex marriage like himself and Lively, and praised his colleague as a man of great courage.
Meanwhile, Sexual Minorities of Uganda and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) , who are leading the lawsuit against Lively, await a judge's decision regarding whether or not the case can proceed to trial.