The thing to remember about kooky clerics is that there are doody-brained people who LISTEN to them

Now that the crackpot lying-filth-spewing rabbis are chiming in, the religionist hate-mongering imbecility has officially gone ecumenical.

by Ken

Just the other day ThinkProgress's Zack Ford reported ("Anti-Gay Preacher Blames Hurricane Sandy On Homosexuality And Marriage Equality," links onsite):

A Christian religious leader has already claimed that Hurricane Sandy is further proof that "God is systematically destroying America" as political judgment for the "homosexual agenda." John McTernan [right] previously made similar allusions about Hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Isaac (2012), which he reiterated in his urgent call to prayer posted Sunday evening (via Gay Star News):

Just last August, Hurricane Isaac hit New Orleans seven years later, on the exact day of Hurricane Katrina. Both hit during the week of the homosexual event called Southern Decadence in New Orleans!

McTernan believes that it is noteworthy that Hurricane Sandy is hitting 21 years after the "Perfect Storm," because 3 is a "significant number with God":

Twenty-one years breaks down to 7 x 3, which is a significant number with God. Three is perfection as the Godhead is three in one while seven is perfection.

It appears that God gave America 21 years to repent of interfering with His prophetic plan for Israel; however, it has gotten worse under all the presidents and especially Obama. Obama is 100 percent behind the Muslim Brotherhood which has vowed to destroy Israel and take Jerusalem. Both candidates are pro-homosexual and are behind the homosexual agenda. America is under political judgment and the church does not know it!

Religious spokespeople have frequently tried to draw bizarre connections between natural disasters and the LGBT community. Last year, the American Family Association’s Buster Wilson similarly claimed that Hurricane Isaac was punishment for the Southern Decadence LGBT festival. Rick Joyner had the same to say about Hurricane Katrina, claiming that "[God]'s not gonna put up with perversion anymore." Pat Robertson has long believed that acceptance of homosexuality could result in hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist bombs, and "possibly a meteor."

A friend of mine points out that the crackpot pastors can't compete for eloquence with the crackpot rabbis, and now they're being heard from, spewing the expected psychotic mélange of savage lies. Today Brian Tashman reports on Right Wing Watch (links onsite):

Religious Right Rabbi Blames Hurricane Sandy on Gays, Marriage Equality

SUBMITTED BY Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 10/31/2012 1:25 pm

Rabbi Noson Leiter of Torah Jews for Decency is blaming Hurricane Sandy on gays and lesbians, calling it “divine justice” for New York’s new marriage equality law. Torah Jews for Decency campaigned against marriage equality in New York and New Jersey, worked with Liberty Counsel and New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms in an unsuccessful lawsuit to overturn New York’s marriage law, and has joined with various other Religious Right groups on anti-gay campaigns.

Yesterday, Leiter appeared on Crosstalk, the flagship program of Vic Eliason’s Voice of Christian Youth America, alongside Neil DiCarlo, a candidate for New York State Senate, to discuss New York’s legalization of same-sex marriage.

Leiter asserted that the “the Great Flood in the time of Noah was triggered by the recognition of same-gender marriages,” adding that there are similar “messages in this particular storm for us.” “The Lord will not bring another flood to destroy the entire world but He could punish particular areas with a flood, and if we look at the same-gender marriage recognition movement that’s occurring, that certainly is a message for us to learn,” he said. “We have to learn that the Lord does watch what we do and if we don’t shape up He will deliver divine justice.” Leiter also suggested that God flooded Lower Manhattan because it is “one of the national centers of homosexuality.”

"Later in the program," Brian Tashman reports, "Leiter argued that the 'LGBT radical homosexualist movement' threatens the survival of society and religious freedom and will even increase child abuse by giving molesters a 'license to victimize' children and even 'a certain degree of diplomatic immunity.'" Brian has both an audio clip and a transcript.

STEVEN GOLDSTEIN OF GARDEN STATE EQUALITY
OFFERS AN ADDENDUM TO BRIAN TASHMAN'S REPORT

Steven Goldstein is chair and CEO of the tireless and highly effective New Jersey LGBT-rights activist group Garden State Equality, and is himself an observant Jew. On an LGBT activist listserv he added this personal note to Brian Tashman's report, and graciously consented to having it shared:

Rabbi Leiter comes to Trenton for every legislative vote on LGBT bills and stalks me. He is incensed that I wear a yarmulke, talk about a progressive God, and am on leave from rabbinical school. During our marriage equality, transgender equality and anti-school bullying campaigns -- it's not just about marriage -- he and the other Chasidim beside him screamed "Hitler" at me through the halls of the State House. It was the one thing in all my years of activism that broke me down into sobs.

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