Whenever the names of Sodom and Gomorrah get bandied about, the story of God’s judgement against those doomed cities for the sin of sodomy usually comes to mind. No other story in the Bible is used more often to persecute homosexuals and promote homophobia, than the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction has been used incessantly as a warning against anyone who tolerates or readily engages in homosexual behaviour.

Thomas Aquinas, the influential theologian and scholar of the Middle Ages, wrote that disasters of any kind could be possible as God punishes the “the wickedness of Sodom”. Earthquakes, fires, plagues, floods, volcanic eruptions, storms or even women falling into ditches could be interpreted as signs of God’s wrathful vengeance against sodomy. This view is so entrenched within Christianity that it is still repeated today. Whenever a national tragedy occurs in the United States, popular Christian Fundamentalists can be easily found loudly proclaiming the tragedy to be God’s retribution against America for allowing homosexual sin. For example, after Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans in September 2005, televangelist John Hagee said that:

All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.

Then of course, there is everyone’s favourite bigot and religious nut case, Jerry Falwell, who said after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, that “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’

The views of Hagee and Falwell may not necessarily represent mainstream society; their belief in God’s judgement of homosexual sin is still a very potent force among many Christians. It is this belief that supports right wing bigotry and gives voice to their visceral opposition to any extension of civil rights to Gays and Lesbians. The disturbing irony about this whole situation is that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah had initially nothing to do with homosexuality.

Even though many Christian denominations teach that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexual, this has no theological support. In Old Testament Judaism, you will find no references equating the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with homosexual sin. Jesus certainly did not equate this story with homosexual sin.  A careful examination of the development of the story reveals that the sin of sodomy was invention of the early church fathers. If you would like to learn more on how this transformation occurred, please read on! I am going to be starting a series of posts discussing the evolution of the sin of sodomy. The following is a summary of the sinful topics:

Taboo or Not Taboo: Religious Views on Sodomy

The Wrath of God and the Sin of Sodomy – Part I

The Wrath of God and the Sin of Sodomy – Part II

Those Greedy and Inhospitable Sodomites!

Sodomizing Sodomy

Saint Augustine and other Church Fathers

The Homophobia of Saint John Chrysostum

Gay History According to Pat Robertson

Religion and Sex – Prager No. 1

Religion and Sex – Prager No. 2

Religion and Sex – Prager No. 3

Religion and Sex – Prager No. 4

I will be starting the first post in this series with a statistical analysis of God ’s wrath against sinful and righteous cities. I will be comparing various cities throughout history to see if God punished sinful cities any more than good Christian cities. I will elaborate on my methodology later on.  It will be consistent between sinful and non sinful cities. The results should be very interesting.