As we noted the other day, organizers for Gov. Bobby Jindal's upcoming "The Response" prayer rally released a prayer guide blaming natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, on God’s apparent displeasure with the "alternative lifestyle" of homosexuality, marriage equality, legal abortion, and Internet pornography.
Not surprisingly, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, that prayer guide has now be scrubbed from The Response's website. Equally unsurprising is the reluctance by those in Jindal's office to comment on the long history of unmitigated bigotry regularly spewed by the American Family Association, which just so happens to be the main sponsor of his prayer rally:
Are legal abortion and same-sex marriage leading to more disasters like Hurricane Katrina? Does the First Amendment only protect Christian religious expression?
Next month, Gov. Bobby Jindal is bringing a mass prayer event to LSU's campus sponsored by a conservative Christian group that has espoused controversial views on a number of issues, including the causes of Hurricane Katrina.
The American Family Association (AFA), based out of Mississippi, has weighed in on everything from homosexuality to Eric Garner -- the man who died after a New York City police officer put him in a chokehold. They are paying for Jindal's mass prayer event at LSU, called The Response, in January.
"I haven't looked at their website, so you will need to talk to them about it. Here's what we do know...our nation is facing serious issues, but God is real, He is powerful, and He answers prayer. That is why we are asking people to come to Baton Rouge, Louisiana on January 24th and pray for revival," said Shannon Bates, Jindal's deputy communications manager, in a written statement about the organization.
"This is a prayer meeting -- not a political rally. One thing that most people can agree on is that prayer is a positive thing," Bates said.
The AFA implied -- in a prayer guide originally distributed in connection with Jindal's January rally -- that there is a direct link between the rising approval of same-sex marriage and abortion in the United States and events like Hurricane Katrina.
The prayer guide -- which appeared to be a few years old and outdated -- was pulled from The Response's website Friday (Dec. 12).
