Leave it to Bryan Fischer to claim that this week’s horrific flooding in areas of Texas is some sort of divine punishment. When a caller on Thursday’s edition of American Family Radio’s “Focal Point” suggested that the floods were punishment for embracing “witchcraft and sodomy,” Fischer embraced it with open arms.
During the second hour of Thursday’s show, Fischer took a call from “Rebecca” in College Station, who said she didn’t think it was a coincidence that the areas hardest hit by the floods were “overrun with witchcraft and sodomy.” People for the American Way got a clip.
Rebecca noted that several portions around the Hill Country and Austin had been turned into lakes. That area, she said, was so heavily influenced by witchcraft and sodomy that “you can just see it.” Another area that was pretty hard hit was Houston. Rebecca said that Houston has areas that were “like a Sodom and Gomorrah,” such as Montrose Street. She also threw in that the city has “a sodomite mayor.” For those who don’t know, Houston mayor Annise Parker is openly lesbian, and Houston is the largest city to have ever elected an openly LGBT mayor.
Proving her point, Rebecca said that the Brazos Valley isn’t as badly flooded as Austin and Houston, even though it’s sandwiched between the two cities. To her mind, it’s because the Brazos Valley is one of the most conservative areas in both Texas and the nation. For instance, there’s no longer an abortion clinic there. She closed by suggesting that if God was angry at Texas, it was “because of the witchcraft and sodomy we’ve allowed to run rampant.”
You knew this was going through the floor when Fischer didn’t try to shut Rebecca down at any point during her screed. He must have felt free to let her rant, since he’s no longer an “official” spokesman for the American Family Association. But even though I’ve learned not to expect much from Fischer, I was surprised at how he enthusiastically took Rebecca’s lunacy and ran with it. He claimed that it was definitely possible to “make a geographical connection” between the extent of the flooding and the extent to which the occult is practiced and homosexuality is embraced.
Fischer then drew a parallel with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which was “very localized.” Fischer noted that no other area in the region was affected, just “those two towns where homosexuality was embraced.” Really, Bryan? Then how do you explain fears that Wharton, about 60 miles south of Houston, could see heavy flooding due to the rise of the Colorado River? After all, Wharton County hasn’t supported a Democrat for president since 1976–and since that time, the only Democrat to clear the 45 percent mark was Michael Dukakis in 1988.
In case you’re wondering, claptrap like this is more or less par for the course on American Family Radio. The scary part is that so many people who live in the fundie bubble consider this a source for news. Then again, such little things as facts never get in the way of this kind of hate and bigotry.
