James Hartline (Photo: Keeping Up With Jonas, Treatment: mine)
Last week xtian supremacist and alleged ex-gay James Hartline blamed California’s permissive acceptance of queer people, and specifically marriage equality, for the wildfires that were blazing in the Golden State. The fires are now extinguished, and this is what fire officials have to say about the fires’ origins.
- According to Orange County Fire Authority officials, the Freeway Complex or Triangle fire was possibly “caused by a vehicle’s exhaust equipment; however, investigators are still evaluating evidence and witness statements.”
- The Sayre fire in Sylmar burned a total of 11,244 acres and a total of 479 homes were destroyed and 138 were damaged. According to the LA County Fire Department, “The cause of the fire has not been determined and remains under investigation.” The National Fire Protection Association points out that fires in mobile homes are frequently “caused by electrical or heater malfunctions and accidents involving cooking or smoking.”
- The source of the Tea fire in Montecito (near Santa Barbara), according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown was “a smoldering bonfire built by students on a ridge-top overlooking Montecito.”
James Hartline disagrees. In a comment at his blog, Hartline says, “The idea that these fires are not God’s judgment or His doings because the fires were started by arsonists or overcrowding or drought, is just plain stupid. God uses many factors at His disposal to bring forth His will and His purposes.”
According to Hartline in a Fox Radio interview with Alan Colmes on 20 November, those “factors” include demons.
As noted astronomer and author of The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan once said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
Hartline, who now takes credit for initiating California’s Proposition 8 and asserts that God did not create gay people, directs his blog readers to the audio segments (below) in which James Hartline presents his extraordinary evidence.
Throughout the Fox Radio interview, Hartline stands by his assertion that gay people and their supporters are responsible for the recent California wildfires, and, for good measure, he tosses in the blame for the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which killed 63 people and injured 3,757 others. That earthquake happened during the nationally-televised third game of the World Series between San Francisco and neighboring Oakland. Readers might remember that a section of the Interstate 880 freeway in Oakland collapsed and crushed cars and motorists on the lower deck.
How does James Hartline know queers are to blame?
Says Hartline, “God speaks to me.”
Alan Colmes talks to ex-gay James Hartline who blames California wildfires on gay people. Duration: 14:45 (Audio: Fox Radio, via ng1260 at Dailymotion)
In the segment below, Alan Colmes addresses the ex-gay myth with Hartline, who, in response, launches into ersatz ex-gay psycho-babble and stammers nervously though questions about his attraction to the opposite sex.
- Colmes: Do you find women sexually appealing?
- Hartline: I think that women are beautiful, and, if I was to consider at this point in my life, I could conceive of getting married.
- Colmes: But it sounds like you’re not really attracted to women sexually, right?
- Hartline: I had crushes on girls when I was very little, and then it just kinda just switched over to men.
James Hartline on The Alan Colmes Show, November 20, 2008.
Duration: 08:18 (Audio: Fox Radio, via ng1260 at Dailymotion)
Click for Printable Version
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