Radical Cleric Links Same-Sex Marriage with Mass Murder

This is anything but new, but still surprises me when I stumble across it:

On April 4 the NY Times ran adjacent front-page articles on the Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing 'gay marriage' and the gunman who murdered 13 people in New York. That day the Times also ran an op ed article by Charles M. Blow who expressed concern about the negative impact that conservative media's "talk of revolution" could have on "weak minds."

Commenting on this is Morality in Media President Bob Peters:

I know when you read that Times front page, the first thought that came to you was, 'I wonder what some obscure right-wing moral scold thinks about all of this?' Hey, I'm here to serve.

"The underlying problem is that increasingly we live in a 'post-Christian' society, where Judeo-Christian faith and values have less and less influence. Among other things, Judaism and Christianity taught that murder was wrong and that included murder motivated by anger, hatred and revenge. Both religions also taught that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves and to forgive others.

"For many citizens, what has replaced Judeo-Christian faith and values is the secular value system that is reflected in films, rap/music lyrics, and videogames and on TV and now the Internet, where the taking of human life for just about any reason is commonplace and is often portrayed in an appealing manner and in realistic detail. Murder motivated by hatred and revenge is also justified.

"This secular value system is also reflected in the 'sexual revolution,' which is the driving force behind the push for 'gay marriage;' and the Iowa Supreme Court decision is another indication that despite all the damage this revolution has caused to children, adults, family life and society (think abortion, divorce, pornography, rape, sexual abuse of children, sexually transmitted diseases, trafficking in women and children, unwed teen mothers and more), it continues to advance relentlessly.

"It most certainly is not my intention to blame the epidemic of mass murders on the gay rights movement!

Certainly not! Except of course it is. Peters is one simple-minded voice among many who insist that there's a connection between our lack of fealty to "Judeo-Christian values" and all the manifestations of our supposedly declining society -- gay rights fits neatly into that framework. The title of this missive, by the way: "Connecting the Dots: The Link Between Gay Marriage and Mass Murders."

And did I mention that Peters has also argued in the past that dirty words uttered on TV causes violence?

It is my intention to point out that the success of the sexual revolution is inversely proportional to the decline in morality; and it is the decline of morality (and the faith that so often under girds it) that is the underlying cause of our modern day epidemic of mass murders.

Forget about the fact that the moralistic America of days past for which these people pine was more an invention of 1950s television writers than an era that ever really existed. Let's set aside the fact that the United States is both overwhelmingly religious --- and mostly Judeo-Christian -- and also the country with the most mass murder sprees. Let's also set aside the fact that all of the world's major religions teach their followers to love and respect their neighbor, but also to spill that neighbor's blood with all the righteous fury they can summon if he doesn't adhere to their beliefs. And forget about pederast priests and Christian fundies trying to turn the U.S. military into a vengeful hand of God that will slay the infidels.

The real problem with this argument (and related arguments about various cultures' supposed depravities) is that there are core human values, divorced from religious beliefs or social customs, and while cultures vary significantly, those core values are universal across all societies.