Finally, Someone Blames Iceland's Volcano on Gay Rights

by Michael Jones · 2010-04-30 07:17:00 UTC
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VolcanoWell, it certainly took long enough. The eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, known in most parts of the world as the much easier to spell Icelandic volcano, has finally been blamed on gay rights activists working to advance equality.

Who was the culprit? Pat Robertson? Nope. The Family Research Council? Nope. Rabbi Yehuda Levin? Strike three.

Turns out there's a new member of the "I blame natural disasters on gay people" club, and it's the Association of Russian Orthodox Experts. Yes, it's a bit amusing that a group who would blame a natural disaster on gay rights has the word "experts" in their title. But sure enough, a Moscow news service has documentation that the group of Russian Orthodox scholars believes the eruption that flambéed trans-Atlantic air travel was caused by the gays.

Well, the gays, and Iceland's tolerance for what the group of experts call "neo-paganism."

Omar Sacirbey has the scoop over at Religion News Service.

"The eruption is the latest in a long line of natural events to which some religious leaders attribute divine judgment. In short, God is using nature to channel his displeasure with human behavior — both the sinners and those who tolerate them — and we had better shape up," Sacirbey writes, describing the sentiment behind religious leaders who like to pin the blame for natural disasters on various social groups.

What motivates people to blame hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes and terrorism on gays and lesbians? According to Professor Wade Clark Roof at UC Santa Barbara, it's pretty simple: a belief in a punishing, threatening, male, vindictive God.

"This stuff attracts people with a strong authoritarian image of God and who believe that he — it's almost always a he — does in fact punish people who do not follow his rules," said Roof.

Interesting. Well, for the sake of argument, maybe God is starting to think a little bit differently about gay rights. After all, yesterday Hawaii's State House voted to enact civil unions legislation, and the Dow Jones just went up. Coincidence? I think not :)

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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