Forced-birther blames bushfires on abortion law reform

by Lauredhel on February 10, 2009

in gender & feminism, religion, reproductive justice, social justice

There’s always one, isn’t there?

The fatuous godbag woman-hater who blames disasters on the Wrath of God. We saw them after Hurricane Katrina, and now they’re starting to waggle their loathsome little fins in the wake of the horrific Victorian bushfires.

Today, it’s Pastor Danny Nalliah. From the fucking “Catch the Fire Ministries“, if you can believe that. CTFM’s media release is on their own blog, here.

The SMH reports:

“Pastor’s abortion dream inflames bushfire tragedy”

The Catch the Fire Ministries has tried to blame the bushfires disaster on laws decriminalising abortion in Victoria.

The evangelical church’s leader, Pastor Danny Nalliah, claimed he had a dream about raging fires on October 21 last year and that he woke with “a flash from the Spirit of God: that His conditional protection has been removed from the nation of Australia, in particular Victoria, for approving the slaughter of innocent children in the womb”.

Pastor Nalliah said he was helping to co-ordinate fire relief, including providing trucks to distribute clothes and food and giving his own blood, but he said he must tell “the truth”.

Asked by the Herald if he did not believe most Australians would regard his remarks as being in appallingly bad taste, he said today: “I must tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.”

He said it was no use “molly-coddling” Australians.

Asked if he believed in a God who would take vengeance by killing so many people indiscriminately – even those who opposed abortion, Mr Nalliah referred to 2 Chronicles 7:14 to vouch for his assertion that God could withdraw his protection from a nation.

“The Bible is very clear,” he said. “If you walk out of God’s protection and turn your back on Him, you are an open target for the devil to destroy.”

They’re not an obscure teeny tinpot little ministry without any influence, either – former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello is tied up with them.

Sometimes I run out of words for “infuriating”.

[h/t to Mindy]

Similar Posts:

Victorian upper house votes on decriminalising abortion today by tigtog
Backpedalling and finger pointing while spinning like a top by tigtog
“Pro-life” Archbishop Hart’s murderous misogyny by Lauredhel
Melbourne Anglican Diocese supports the decriminalisation of abortion by Lauredhel
So, we just missed Pastor Danny Nalliah at Mt Ainslie yesterday by tigtog

Tagged as: abortion, abortion law, australia, bigotry, bushfires, catch the fire, christian, danny nalliah, evangelical, fires, forced-birthers, god, godbag, law, law reform, ministries, peter costello, pro-choice, pro-life, relief, victoria, womb

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This article was written by lauredhel

Lauredhel is a forty-something woman with a disability. She lives in her Western Australian family home where books, Lego, and soapmaking gear constantly compete for space. She blogs about feminism, reproductive justice, freedom from violence, the use and misuse of language, medical science, being disabled, her vegetable garden, and whatever else pops into her head. Lauredhel also blogs at FWD/Forward (feminists with disabilities), scribbles at her personal dreamwidth journal Selective and Arbitrary, and co-moderates Hollaback Australia. She joined Hoyden About Town in 2007.

lauredhel has written 1312 posts for Hoyden About Town. If you liked this post, you might like to subscribe to the feed via RSS or EMAIL to get instantly updated for more posts like this.

{ 4 trackbacks }

And Catch the Fire They Will - Pollytics: February 10, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Christian cleric incites terrorism: prosecute him! « Balneus: February 10, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Godbags and Your Ovaries « WhyI’mbitter’s Weblog: February 11, 2009 at 9:18 pm
skepticlawyer » The Bent Spoon: March 6, 2009 at 8:49 am

{ 80 comments }

1 Chally February 10, 2009 at 2:36 pm: Wow.
2 Mindy February 10, 2009 at 2:41 pm: Thanks Lauredhel. I just didn’t have the energy to write this up today.
FP has also put up a good post on her blog.
3 fuckpoliteness February 10, 2009 at 2:44 pm: Hey Mindy. I’m at work and really I just want to cry now. I’m exhausted by anger at how someone could be so hateful. I want to go back to do a proper takedown of this stuff when I have calmed down, but I suspect that will take a while. It’s just SO insensitive (not to mention wrong, bigoted, rude, disgusting, inhumane, self absorbed…I could go on).
4 Grendel February 10, 2009 at 2:48 pm: Yes, our very own version of the Westboro Baptist Church.

If Danny had his way then John 3:16 would read: “For God so loved the world that he chastised it regularly by slaughtering all the children and other innocents of places that allowed abortion, homosexuals and greenies.”

Grendel’s last blog post..Please. . .
5 P.P. February 10, 2009 at 2:53 pm: What a fuckhead! So nice of him to decide what I *need* to hear.
6 fuckpoliteness February 10, 2009 at 2:59 pm: Yes, I think he needs to hear ‘Go fuck yourself’ or better yet ‘SHUT YOUR MOUTH’ but I don’t get to claim that God imparted that message to me, and therefore put my claims outside of a challenge I’d recognise as valid.
7 Beppie February 10, 2009 at 3:11 pm: WTF!!! What a sick, twisted individual.

And I’m sure he claims that his God is all loving too. Sick, sick, sick.
8 Grendel February 10, 2009 at 3:18 pm: So if he knew in advance (via his prophetic vision) and didn’t tell anyone, does that make him more, or less guilty than an arsonist?

Or does he see the arsonist as the ‘hand of god’?

Grendel’s last blog post..Please. . .
9 fuckpoliteness February 10, 2009 at 3:28 pm: That’s a bloody valid question. When I emailed The Bearded One he asked why, if this guy wasn’t talking out his arse he hadn’t given a warning back in October when he allegedly had this dream. SURELY that would have convinced people and worked as a better ‘testimony’ of God’s wrath when he was ‘proved right’ – so can he be charged do you think as an accessory to murder?
10 Evie February 10, 2009 at 3:29 pm: When I read 2 Chronicles 7:14 I was expecting Old Testament craziness and hatred, but this is what 2 Chronicles 7:14 actually says:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Now, I don’t believe in God, but I fail to see how Pastor Nulliah could possibly interpret this passage as hatefully as he has. The passage is talking about forgiveness and healing, not God “withdrawing his protection”.

As for his dream, visions and hearing voices, it sounds to me as though Pastor Nulliah needs to be committed for Schizophrenia or some similar form of mental illness.
11 hexy February 10, 2009 at 3:33 pm: Some of us who HAVE been committed for schizophrenia are more rational than this fuckwit.
12 Janet February 10, 2009 at 3:41 pm: The raw, unashamed agenda of the forced-birthers for all to see. Go Team Misogyny. *vomits quietly*
13 Lauredhel February 10, 2009 at 3:54 pm: Some of us who HAVE been committed for schizophrenia are more rational than this fuckwit.

This. Mental illness doesn’t turn people into misogynist assholes. And this sort of conversation about people who are just plain horrible is rather ableist, and hostile to the many readers and contributors who are experiencing or have experienced psychiatric disability. I know this sort of talk happens just about everywhere else, but let’s not do it here please.
14 Anti-religo February 10, 2009 at 3:57 pm: I am so angry. What a creeepppp. It is also so incredibly STUPID…..STUPID. I hate religion and this is an example of the kind of crap that made me turn my back on it in the first place. What kind of example is he showing and what kind of God is he promoting to those gullible and weak enough to support this idiot? I am so incredibly angry. I am so hurt for the victims that some disgusting, stupid, insensitive, IDIOT would approach the media with this crap, at such an awful time.

Remember this was also the idiot whose ‘voices’ told him Costello was going to be the new PM and he is still listening to his pschss.

[I've starting disemvowelling, and I'm going to keep disemvowelling. ~L]
15 Evie February 10, 2009 at 3:58 pm: I don’t doubt it, Hexy. A close member of my family has had Schizophrenia since adolescence, one of my brothers has Asperger’s and I and other family members have had mental health issues (though with different illnesses). All of these people are some of the sanest people I have ever met.

Having read back over my comment, I think I was being far too flippant about mental illnesses and would likely have been offended to read anyone making a similar comment. I apologise unreservedly for any offence caused, and for having made what I consider to be an offensive comment in the first place.

I don’t want to excuse my original comment or weaken this apology in anyway, so I’ll leave it at that.
16 Mindy February 10, 2009 at 4:03 pm: Just the sheer beligerence of this man to believe that it is appropriate to say this at any time, much less when so many have lost so much is just unbelieveable.

Also, as one of my colleagues said at afternoon tea – what did Queensland do to deserve their flooding? My question is – why hasn’t fire rained down upon other states who have decriminalised abortion? Why isn’t the Pope ruler of the World? Maybe because God isn’t in charge and you are just a ratbag Mr Nalliah.
17 hexy February 10, 2009 at 4:07 pm: Thanks, Evie. I have to admit, much as I feel hurt by the ableist language of labeling people like this “crazy”, I’m yet to come up with a better way of phrasing the complete fuckery of their thought processes. He’s not crazy, he’s a misogynistic asshole, but there needs to be another word that sums up the moon-logic aspect.

hexy’s last blog post.."Women’s Space" disappeared?
18 Lauredhel February 10, 2009 at 4:08 pm: Evie: I can’t speak for Hexy, but thankyou from me. Now _that’s_ how you do an apology.
19 Deus Ex Macintosh February 10, 2009 at 4:14 pm: So if he knew in advance (via his prophetic vision) and didn’t tell anyone, does that make him more, or less guilty than an arsonist?

Or does he see the arsonist as the ‘hand of god’?

Makes you wonder… Catch the Fire or START the Fire ministries?

Deus Ex Macintosh’s last blog post..Illegal abduction for peaceful protest
20 Emma February 10, 2009 at 4:41 pm: *thunks head on desk*
I
*thunk*
HAVE
*thunk*
NO
*thunk*
WORDS…

…and have thus resorted to visual imagery via asterisk art.
*thunk*

Emma’s last blog post..Books to give away
21 Louise February 10, 2009 at 8:00 pm: I wish I could say something intelligent, but I can’t without being full of rage.

So instead I’ll just say that I really hate Danny fucking Nalliah, and that I feel sorry for Jesus that he has such a hate filled person distorting his message.
22 Grendel February 10, 2009 at 9:06 pm: Well http://www.fark.com/ are running the story now so his scumbaggery has gone international.

Grendel’s last blog post..Please. . .
23 Rachel February 10, 2009 at 9:19 pm: Has Peter Costello denounced this insensitive rubbish?
24 Helen February 10, 2009 at 9:26 pm: Would I burn in the eternal fires of hell if I gave Mr Nalliah a good kicking?
25 Michelle February 10, 2009 at 10:01 pm: Just appalling, how could someone say something so utterly insenstive, and then he has the nerve to claim he’s morally superior to anyone who doesn’t believe like him!!

Michelle’s last blog post..Tagged
26 fuckpoliteness February 10, 2009 at 10:06 pm: I imagine any god of justice would thoroughly enjoy your actions Helen
27 Anti-religo February 10, 2009 at 10:16 pm: That’s the point, isn’t it? A doctrine based on peace, love and understanding, misrepresented by people like this idiot. I am with you, Louise. Jesus would not want this.
28 Meg Thornton February 10, 2009 at 10:57 pm: I think there’s a very good case for the police to be arresting Mr Nalliah on charges of “making an affray”, or “conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace”. Seriously, this man is making a provocative statement, intended to upset people, at a time when emotions are running high and people are already tense. It doesn’t help anyone, it doesn’t do anything for the people who have lost their homes and families. All it does is bring attention to Mr Nalliah and his church, in the worst way possible.

Alternatively, if the charges won’t stick on Nalliah, they probably would on the media organisations which chose to give this piece of blatant publicity-seeking idiocy the publicity they did. It didn’t need to be published at this time, and it certainly shouldn’t be treated in a neutral manner – a person who chooses to use a major disaster as a way of getting their own face in the paper deserves nothing but scorn.

Doing this sort of thing is nothing more or less than emotional arson. It’s impoliteness in one of its worst forms.

Meg Thornton’s last blog post..Things I find in my RSS ticker, part 2
29 MomTFH February 11, 2009 at 5:00 am: I hate this kind of fire and brimstone crap. I cannot imagine who would worship such a vengeful god.

MomTFH’s last blog post..Ethics, or a lack thereof
30 SunlessNick February 11, 2009 at 5:08 am: So if he knew in advance (via his prophetic vision) and didn’t tell anyone, does that make him more, or less guilty than an arsonist?

How are the confirm/deny investigations going regarding some of these fires being arson?
31 Helen February 11, 2009 at 5:47 am: SN, It’s apparently pretty much established that there were arsonists in Gippsland and also around Beechworth. The police just need to do a bit more digging I think, from reports it appears they are closing in on them quite quickly!

Also: The “blame the Greenies” trope has, inevitably, started up. Crap.
32 Helen February 11, 2009 at 6:14 am: Ah good, he’s pi$$ed off his powerful ally:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25038142-5006785,00.html
33 SunlessNick February 11, 2009 at 6:38 am: Thanks Helen.
34 Emma February 11, 2009 at 8:24 am: I sincerely hope Costello’s comments are the last we hear of this god botherer. Shame on the media for giving him any air time at all.

Emma’s last blog post..Books to give away
35 Fizz February 11, 2009 at 9:34 am: Dnn Nllh cn g d n fckng fr.

As far as I’m concerned, he can take the place of someone who already has.

Fizz’s last blog post..Firebird Suite
36 Stentor February 11, 2009 at 9:41 am: So if he’s helping coordinate fire relief, but the fires are God’s righteous judgment against evil abortionists and their neighbors, then isn’t he working to thwart the will of God?

Why, if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect he was just making stuff up to exploit a tragedy to spread his hateful worldview.
37 P.P. February 11, 2009 at 10:12 am: Emma, just what I was thinking. I’m seeing people elsewhere on the nets state that he’s just some harmless dickwad, don’t get all upset over him, but the fact remains that his hateful voice was allowed a hell of a lot of space by the msm. That right there is discursive power in action.
38 Beppie February 11, 2009 at 11:04 am: About the msm attention though– has any of it actually been good? I haven’t seen him getting any positive attention.

Perhaps it is a good thing to allow douche-hats like this to show themselves up for what they really are — people who will exploit any tragedy to control women’s bodies. That way, the next time people hear him going on about the fertilised-egg BAYBIEZ, they’ll know what sort of person he is.
39 fuckpoliteness February 11, 2009 at 11:36 am: I would agree with that Beppie. And I think it leads to some productive conversations (at least in spaces like this) around arsehat misogynistic views and extremely smug wrapped-in-cotton callousness versus ‘mental illness’ (which really is doing the rounds everywhere it seems, ie/ everyone wants to say it’s ‘crazy’ when it’s actually deeply *rationalised* institutionalised world views at play), and to force people to question religion/the bible. I mean, honestly, the god of the bible allegedly did some viciously vengeful stuff (like remember when he killed all the babies under two whose parents didn’t mark a door lintel cos he was pissed off with Egypt?) – while I’m not for a second suggesting that’s what this is (it’s Australia, it’s fire, it’s deeply deeply upsetting, but it is a natural disaster, not a designed punishment), I’m just wondering how you can say “Oh, but I believe in that god, and he would never…” when the bible says he *has*. Also how can *this* douche hound rely on the bible – the same bible in which his god shows a reckless disregard for the sanctity of human life/children by massacring thousands of them to make a point that he’s Not Happy Jan?
40 Lauredhel February 11, 2009 at 1:33 pm: I was just poking through the Costello backstory, and found this cringeworthy appropriation:

Catch The Fire Ministries: “Another Prophetic Word Regarding the Federal Election”

And when on 30.7.07 I was driving past Mt. Beerwah in Queensland (aboriginal legend a mother mountain with womb) the Spirit of God suddenly moved me to cry out in the loud aboriginal like tongue followed by the shouting our several times of ‘The Honorable Peter Costello, Prime Minister elect of Australia’, I get really excited when both Sonia and Janice sent me a copy of your email advising of your personal meetings with the P.M. and Treasurer and prophetically preparing Peter Costello. Glory to God.

And check this out:

The apology to the Aboriginal people was perhaps a good move, but with it came the pagan rituals in Parliament possible for the very first time.

Maybe we need a new Daily-Show-style “PAGAN PANIC!” logo.
41 AndyD February 11, 2009 at 1:49 pm: I think it’s important to do a full and proper take-down of this nonsense, each of us in our own way.

It’s not easy. It’s exasperating and a little scary being so close to home. But I’m worried that the media release is getting copied and pasted everywhere with very little detailed commentary or deconstruction.
42 Zoe February 11, 2009 at 2:07 pm: Family First Senator Fielding repudiates the comments – Niallah was second on their Senate ticket but is godbag non grata now. Hat tip to Pollytics via twitter
43 Rebekka February 11, 2009 at 3:25 pm: “Maybe we need a new Daily-Show-style “PAGAN PANIC!” logo.”

Amusingly, in the reading I’m doing for my first semester subject all about Popes, in the first few centuries CE, there kept being calls for a return to “traditional Pagan values” in much the same way as the godbags now call for a return to “traditional Christian values”.

I say since good old fashioned Pagan values were replaced with these corrupt Christian myths, the world just hasn’t been the same.
44 worldpeace and a speedboat February 11, 2009 at 4:26 pm: ahhhhh I should have checked here first, I posted on ForBattle about this folkwit but of course you guys are already on the ball ;-) I don’t know how to backtrack/crosspost/stuff but I’ll go and edit now.
45 Lauredhel February 11, 2009 at 6:30 pm: ….erm.

Westboro Baptist Church.

[h/t bardiegrub]
46 fuckpoliteness February 11, 2009 at 6:54 pm: Ok…wow. Are those people real? Cos I’ve seen some shit from christians before…but ‘pray for many more’. “Our god holds life so precious that we should pray for more death”?
47 Fizz February 11, 2009 at 6:59 pm: WBC are known for their batshit, but I still want to beat the everloving shit out of the lot of them.

I mean seriously…they’re being told to pray for what now? What on earth did we do to offend their delicate sensibilities so much?

Fizz’s last blog post..Firebird Suite
48 Lauredhel February 11, 2009 at 7:52 pm: Fizz, please stop with expressing your violence fantasies here. I’ve already deleted one which was completely and utterly unacceptable, pointing to RL details and including a rape fantasy. Stop.
49 Fizz February 11, 2009 at 7:59 pm: Please accept my apologies.

I don’t honestly intend to go around causing harm to anyone, and I should have thought of that before I spoke.

Fizz’s last blog post..Firebird Suite
50 irfan February 11, 2009 at 8:05 pm: Imagine how the moron would have been treated if he was an imam …