Israel Folau, one of the most famous Australian rugby players as well as one of the country’s biggest Christian homophobes, is blaming recent wildfires in the country on abortion and gay marriage.

The incident occurred months after he was fired for his public bigotry and unsuccessfully tried to raise millions of dollars via GoFundMe for future legal bills. (The company shut down his fundraiser for violating their terms of service.)

Bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland, mixed with a bad drought, have led to the deaths of six people so far, countless evacuations, and massive property damage.

But Folau, channeling Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell after 9/11, told the crowd at the Truth of Jesus Christ Church Sydney that all of the recent disasters in the country could be linked to marriage equality and legalized abortion. Don’t bother looking for evidence. You just have to trust him.

You can hear it around the 2:58 mark of the video below:

“The events that have happened here in Australia, in the last couple of years — God’s word says for a man and a woman to be together … they’ve come and changed this law,” he says. “Abortion, it’s OK now to murder, kill infants, unborn children.” Folau says he believes the scripture is talking to Australia. “Look how rapid these bushfires these droughts, all these things have come in a short period of time. Do you think it’s a coincidence or not? “God is speaking to you guys. Australia you need to repent and take these laws and turn it back to what is right.”

And then, of course, he added that he was just saying all this “out of love.” Because “Christian love” is so often synonymous with hate.

Even other Christians were mocking him after those comments, which resemble right-wing Americans far more than typical pastors in the area.

Anglican minister Peter Kurti said Folau was wrong. “If God really was going to punish us for changing the law on abortion (and) changing the law on marriage, it’s the Parliament House in Macquarie St and the Parliament House in Canberra that should have been the target of God’s wrath — not the mid-north coast and south [Queensland],” he told Sky News. “If God was angry, God’s aim was off.

Others used his logic right back against him: “Israel Folau is our punishment for ignoring climate change.”

For a guy who used to have a huge fan base, he seems to be on a mission to infuriate them every day. No one’s saying he doesn’t have the right to speak, but a man with his platform, using it to spread faith-based hate, deserves all the public condemnation he’s getting.

(Thanks to Bobby for the link)

