Does God Punish Bigots?

Whenever something unpleasant happens to individuals, who are not favored by fundamentalist Christians, the extreme fundamentalists claim it was the judgment of God. Pat Robertson does this all the time. A hurricane hits New Orleans and Crazy Pat tells the world it is punishment for a gay celebration that is going to take place a week or two after the hurricane—apparently God's timing is off. The same hurricane knocks down fundamentalist churches across the South—apparently God has trouble with his aim as well.

So, why not argue that God is executing anti-gay bigots?

Consider the case of Pastor Leo Godzich, of the First Assembly of God, Phoenix, AZ. Godzich runs a group called "National Association of Marriage Enhancement." Of course, to enhance his married he has to fight to deny marriage to same-sex couples. A fundamentalist, Godzich was involved in the so-called "restoration" of Ted Haggard, the top evangelical minister who was caught hiring male prostitutes. Godzich was in Uganda, a hot-bed of anti-gay work by the extremists from the United States. A "kill the gays" bill, which would impose death on some gay people, has been resurrected there. The bill has been directly linked to various fundamentalist groups from the United States. According to a badly written article in a local newspaper Godzich was traveling with a group of fundamentalist ministers when they stopped behind a truck. A second truck behind them failed to stop. All the occupants were killed.

Now, one fundamentalist minister on a crusade against the gay community doesn't amount to a hill of beans, anymore than one hurricane a week or two before a gay celebration. But fundamentalists have seen God's hand in less than this. But there is more.

In North Carolina, the Deputy Senate Leader, Republican Jim Forrester, introduced a new constitutional amendment to enshrine in the state constitution godly discrimination against gay people. Of course, it goes without saying that Forrester is a Republican. Forrester has claimed that he knows that gay people "die at least 20 years earlier" than other people and said "we need to reach out to them to try to get them to change their lifestyle and back to the normal lifestyle which we can accept."

Forrester's bill would make it illegal to recognize any "domestic legal union" of a same-sex couple. And there is concern that this would, like other Republican sponsored bills in other states, ban private recognition of gay relationships as well.

In the midst of a campaign to impose this anti-gay legislation Forrester was rushed to hospital over the weekend where he died. Forrester was a deacon in a fundamentalist Baptist Church.

Gee, maybe it is a pattern and maybe the fundamentalists got it wrong all along. After all those hurricanes keep hitting the Bible-belt .