Divine Retributions

I read in the paper last week that a prominent cleric in Tehran,  commenting on the high probability that there will be a major earthquake in the city,  stated that the reason was the immorality of women in failing to adhere to Islamic law.    I snorted in disbelief, but then remembered that here at home,  a nationally known evangelist stated that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment on New Orleans because of immorality.   These examples of lunacy seem, on the surface,  to just be lunacy and I am tempted to believe that few people are going to listen to such claptrap.  However, I saw an article today from Senegal.  The focus of the article was specifically on mobs of people digging up the corpses of homosexual men who had died,  dragging them through the streets and leaving them in front of their families houses.   The article went on to say that a vast increase in persecution of homosexuals is sweeping across Africa.    And to what did the article attribute this horrific behavior?   Many places in Africa are facing increasing food shortages and rising prices.  And leaders in Africa,  apparently civil and religious,  have blamed the food shortages and rising prices on the "immorality" caused by homosexuals.  How far behind is shifting the blame to the Gypsies or the Jews?   If crop failures continue to be an issue,  how far from our borders might such madness erupt?  Can't happen here?  Our past isn't free from mob violence rooted in prejudice.  I felt a chill.