Trump cabinet's Bible teacher blames homosexuality for God's wrath in COVID-19 blog post

Although the novel Coronavirus kicked off its rampant world tour in December last year, it took world leaders quite some time to wrap their heads around the seriousness of the outbreak. This, of course, promoted a false sense of security that encouraged citizens to go about their non-social distancing ways while the virus crossed borders and oceans, infecting hundreds of thousands of people.

Now that we've finally comprehended the devastating scale of COVID-19, everyone from scientists to doomsday prophets to religious teachers is pouring over their books to try and make sense of the crisis in their own ways. Among them is a pastor who leads a weekly Bible study group for members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, who came up with the oh-so-original hypothesis of... God's wrath.

In a recently released biblical interpretation of the Coronavirus pandemic, Rev. Ralph Drollinger gave a lengthy explanation of how and why the ongoing global crisis was a form of God's wrath. Although proclamations like these are a dime a dozen these days, the 65-year-old's Capitol Ministries blog post Is God Judging America Today? landed him in trouble with the LGBTQIAP+ community after he appeared to blame homosexuality for the aforementioned wrath—and subsequently, the virus.

In a section titled The Five Identifiers of Forsaking Wrath in the blog, Drollinger listed "a proclivity toward lesbianism and homosexuality" as one of the identifiers of God's wrath. Further down, he added: "Today's America is not by in large characterized by people who are unfaithful to God’s precepts. Conversely, there is only a small minority of individuals who are grossly disobedient to God, individuals to whom the five indicators apply. Unfortunately for the vast majority of faithful individuals in America, too many of the unfaithful have been allowed by the faithful to gain high positions of influence in our culture: high positions in our government, our educational system, our media and our entertainment industry. This is tragic, unfortunate, and costly."

Condemning homosexuality in such a manner in a blog post about the Coronavirus pandemic sparked outrage among several national LGBTQIAP+ advocacy groups, with many slamming online Drollinger for his words.

However, in an email sent to NBC News on Thursday, Drollinger claimed that his Coronavirus post was being misinterpreted, clarifying that he does not "believe that homosexuality played any role whatsoever in the coronavirus." He further explained that there was a "panoply of wraths" when it comes to God. i.e., while he does believe homosexuality causes one type of God's wrath, he doesn't think it's the cause of the type of wrath that may have manifested as a global pandemic. Uh-huh... 

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Judd Deere said that the implication that homosexuality caused the pandemic is "disgusting" and "certainly not something the President believes." Stating that Trump does not attend Drollinger’s Bible class, he added: "President Trump has no higher priority than the health and safety of all Americans, and ensuring we emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever before." The blog post was also condemned by Alphonso David, the president of the national LGBTQIAP+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, who said that "Drollinger’s horrific assertions are ludicrous" and that his "shameful views cannot be ignored."

"LGBTQ people around the country and around the world are struggling to cope with this global pandemic. They are worried about their health, their livelihoods, and their families. At a moment where we need to pull together by recognizing our shared humanity and mutual dependence, there are some of low moral character who see it as an opportunity to continue to try to divide us," David stated.