John McTernan believes he knows what’s responsible for Hurricane Sandy, and it’s not climate science. On Sunday, the anti-gay Christian preacher said that the hurricane is more proof that “God is systematically destroying America” as punishment for the “homosexual agenda.”

“Both candidates are pro-homosexual and are behind the homosexual agenda. America is under political judgment and the church does not know it,” McTernan wrote on his website.

McTernan also uses religion in his attempt to rationalize why the storm is hitting now, explaining that it’s been 21 years since the “perfect storm” hit New England in 1991.

“21 years breaks down to 7 x 3, which is a significant number with God. Three is perfection as the Godhead is three in one while seven is perfection,” he wrote.

This is hardly the first time, however, that the religious zealot has tied natural disasters to homosexuality. McTernan has also made similar claims about Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Isaac, both of which hit the same week seven years apart in New Orleans. He claimed that the hurricane was the result of a gay festival called Southern Decadence, and that “God was ‘putting an end to this city and its wickedness.’ “

But McTernan is hardly alone when it comes to making outlandish claims about natural disasters and homosexuality.

Think Progess: Religious spokespeople have frequently tried to draw bizarre connections between natural disasters and the LGBT community. Last year, the American Family Association’s Buster Wilson similarly claimed that Hurricane Isaac was punishment for the Southern Decadence LGBT festival. Rick Joyner had the same to say about Hurricane Katrina, claiming that “[God]‘s not gonna put up with perversion anymore.” Pat Robertson has long believed that acceptance of homosexuality could result in hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist bombs, and “possibly a meteor.” Read more

Unfortunately, as Think Progess also noted, “It’s likely that McTernan will not be the only religious figure to draw such allusions from this devastating storm.”

— Posted by Tracy Bloom.