Pastor Blames Hurricane Isaac on New Orleans' Southern Decadence

A conservative pastor is blaming Hurricane Isaac's arrival in New Orleans on the city's massive Labor Day Weekend-long gay party known as Southern Decadence.

John McTernan, an author, pastor and founder of Defend and Proclaim the Faith ministries, recently wrote a blog post on the Defend and Proclaim website and pointed out that Isaac's arrival coincides with Southern Decadence, which is one of the bigger Circuit-style weekends. He also notes that Isaac comes seven years after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

"The church, city and nation have not repented and the homosexual agenda is far worse than it was in 2005," he wrote. "New Orleans is still hosting Southern Decadence with open homosexuality manifesting in the streets of the city. It could be that God is putting an end to this city and its wickedness. The timing of Hurricane Isaac with Southern Decadence is a sign that God's patience with America's sin is coming to an end."

Southern Decadence is scheduled for Wednesday, August 29 through Monday, September 3. According to the event's official website, Southern Decadence "will produced as scheduled." It also says, "the storm is forecast to have passed through the New Orleans area by Thursday afternoon."

Hurricane Isaac missed New Orleans but impacted the parishes surrounding the city. "The city's biggest problems seemed to be downed power lines, scattered tree limbs and minor flooding," reported the Associated Press. Only one person has been reported killed, compared with 1,800 deaths from Katrina. At its strongest, Isaac was far weaker than Katrina.

"Let's all watch this very closely, because if New Orleans is destroyed, it is a sure sign that the final judgment for the national sin of America has arrived," McTerna concluded in his post.

McTernan isn't alone in his (mis)reading of the Mind of God. The "news" website World Net Daily also wondered if Hurricane Isaac was a result of the evils of Southern Decadence.

Robin Cox, a lifelong resident of the Gulf Coast, asked WND, "A hurricane hitting a celebration of decadence twice in seven years. What are the odds?"

Mary Starkey, another local, asked the publication, "Does it seem God has it in for New Orleans? Just contemplating why this has happened twice in seven years at exact same time of year."

Leave it, in the end, to Steven Colbert to explain the cause of Isaac: "Hurricanes form from rising moisture created by hot steamy man action aboard a gay Caribbean cruise. When that sin gets high enough it makes the angels cry and those tears fall to earth in the form of massive precipitation because homosexuals are a vital part of the water cycle. That's why the gay symbol is a rainbow!"