Last week, the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer gave us an illustration of the verb “to vilify” by saying on his radio show, among other things, that Hitler couldn’t find any straight people to work his evil, he had to find gay people to do it. He followed up with a column where he blamed homosexuality for “six millions dead Jews.” I hesitated to even write that because of the horror of trivializing the holocaust, even in reporting what someone else said. However, he said it and he did it as ammunition in the culture war. He should be ashamed as should the AFA.
There was another illustration of Christians vilifying gays in the name of the culture war last week that is a close second to Fischer. Instead of blaming gays for millions of deaths, this radio personality says Muslim law is better than US law in that it provides death for gays. Watch and listen to Christian rocker, Bradlee Dean and a too enthusiatic female caller discuss sodomy laws in MN and how moral Muslims are compared to Christians. Please note what makes those Muslims so good.
The whole issue may become a part of the Minnesota’s governor’s race and is being followed by Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent. Enter Mr. Birkey:
But recent controversial statements by Dean — that Muslim countries calling for the execution of gays and lesbians are “more moral than even the American Christians” — have drawn the ire of some both within and outside the party.
“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’s May 15 radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”
“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”
“The bottom line is this… they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator,” Dean said, before going on to make a claim that has no basis in fact: “On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?”
The statistic he quotes — 117 children molested — conflates pedophiles and homosexuals. It may not be accurate even about pedophiles. I have tried to find the source of it and the closest I can come is a website and book which sources it to a 1988 NIMH publication (not in newer editions) but with no specific study. Even if the stat has a legitimate source, it relates to pedophiles and not gays. It is possible I suppose that Dean is so misinformed that he believes his rhetoric. One wonders if he would change his position if he could be convinced that his view of gays was wrong.
On the whole, Dean’s radio performance comes across as a rant with little conherence but it is hard to come up with any other understanding of his words than this – he believes Muslim countries who kill gays for being gay have the moral high ground over the USA.
Some of the commenters on the other thread were discussing how this kind of rhetoric represents Christianity. So let’s keep that discussion going. Can’t you just feel the love?
UPDATE: Here is a 2006 Weekly Standard article about Dean’s Junkyard Prophet band. Wow.
UPDATE – 6/1/10 – Broadcasting from the Heritage Foundation (!?), the YCR guys are at it again…this time praising African countries who jail gays.
UPDATE: Exodus International posted a stinging condemnation of Bradlee Dean’s remarks on their blog. I suspect this will be followed by a similar statement from one of the Minnesota church affiliates, Living Word Christian Center. Exgaywatch is reporting that the You Can Run group was featured there last year at a high school function.