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 | Steve Lefemine of Columbia Christians for Life in Columbia, SC was startled when he viewed a satellite picture of hurricane Katrina. He saw an image of an 8-week old fetus imbedded in the weather pattern. He said: "In my belief, God judged New Orleans for the sin of shedding innocent blood through abortion." He put a message on his telephone answering machine: "Providence punishes national sins by national calamities. Greater divine judgment is coming upon America unless we repent of the national sin of abortion." 1 |
| Muhammad Yousef Mlaifi, an official of the Kuwaiti government, wrote an article in the Arabic daily newspaper Al-Siyassa with the headline: "The Terrorist Katrina is One of the Soldiers of Allah." He wrote: "It is almost certain that this is a wind of torment and evil that Allah has sent to this American empire." 1 |
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| Chuck Kelley is president of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and is one of the hundreds of thousands of people that Katrina made homeless. He suggests that God exhibited mercy on the residents of the city by precisely steering the hurricane to reduce the number of deaths. When interviewed by Baptist Press, he said: |
"Imagine what would have happened if [New Orleans] had taken a direct hit. The levee did not break until after the storm was clear and the winds had died down and the rescue workers were able to get out. If the levee had given way during the hurricane] untold thousands of people" [would have died]...It's a terrible tragedy and we still don't know the scope of it -- but the evidences of God's mercy are there. We rejoice in the fact that He has got the whole world in His hands, including the city of New Orleans and [the seminary]....When we get to the end of this story the last paragraph is going to be a testimony to the greatness and glory of our God, who is able to do all things well, and able to provide every need." 2
| Michael Marcavage ia director of Repent America, a Fundamentalist Christian para-church organization which opposes gay rights and abortion access. He wrote: |
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city....New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. From the devastation may a city full of righteousness emerge...We must help and pray for those ravaged by this disaster, but let us not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long. May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God." 3
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Repent America issued a news release on hurricane Katrina which attributed God's anger to:
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| The Rev. Jerry Falwell was silent this time. About four years earlier, on 2001-SEP-13 during Robertson's "700 Club" TV program, Falwell blamed the 9-11 New York City and Pentagon terrorist attacks on the American Civil Liberties Union, abortion providers, Pagans, feminists, gays and the lesbians, and the People For the American Way. [The latter is a liberal group promoting the separation of church and state]. Robertson responded: "Well, I totally concur..." [It is not clear whether Falwell intended "Pagans" to refer to Neopagans, or to one of the other six unrelated groups sometimes referred to as Pagans; the term is often a universal "snarl" word among religious conservatives]. Falwell's statement was repudiated by the White House, and he later apologized. He might well hold the same conclusions concerning hurricane Katrina, but has apparently not made them public. |
| The Rev. Pat Robertson was also silent this time. On 2001-SEP-14, three days after 9-11, his Christian Broadcasting Network issued a news release: Pat Robertson listed America's major sins: access to abortion, secularism, separation of church and state, pornography on the Internet, and the occult, etc...on television. He wrote: "We have insulted God at the highest level of our government. Then, we say, 'Why does this happen?' It is happening because God Almighty is lifting His protection from us. Once that protection is gone, we are vulnerable because we are a free society." 4 He presumably holds the same belief today. However he does not seem to have made a public comment. |
| Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute -- a conservative Christian group -- was reluctant to attribute hurricane Katrina to God's wrath. He said: "It's a very risky business ascribing divine intent to natural disasters. Nobody but God really knows why these things occur." 1 |
| The Rev. Alex McFarland, director of teen apologetics for Focus on the Family, a Fundamentalist Christian group, discussed the theological concept of theodicy: why doesn't a good God prevent evil and suffering by innocent people? He said that: |
"When someone asks 'Why do innocent people suffer?' I will gently remind them that we are not really innocent. God did create a perfect world. But we humans introduced moral evil, sin, rebellion and disobedience. And after God judged human sin in Noah's flood, the weather patterns that we know today developed.... As a Christian, I would say that God didn't cause this but God did allow it, and we believe that God will bring a greater good out of this. For God's love, power and wisdom to remain uncompromised, he will have to bring more good than pain from it, ultimately." 6
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| Hungry Heart Ministries has a page on their website which deals
with Katrina. They note that Katrina formed on the day that the expulsion of
Jews from Gaza was complete, and made landfall two days later. Their website
contains a prayer which attributes the hurricane to God's curse on America.
It says, in part:
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Qeren, the royalist movement in Israel, advocates changing Israel
from a democracy to a kingdom. They conducted a poll to sample their
visitors' beliefs about whether the hurricane Katrina was linked in some
way with the Israeli pullout from Gaza. 34% believe that Katrina was "tied
to the pullout from Gaza;" 13% believe that they may be linked; 16%
don't think so; 37% are certain that they are not linked. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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David Haggith, author of End-Time Prophecies of the Bible write
in an Email:
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Response to the "God is responsible for natural disasters" viewpoint:
John Shelby Spong, a retired Episcopal bishop, responded to a question from a TV producer at Fox News. The Rev. Pat Robertson had suggested that God might send a natural disaster to disrupt the lives of the citizens of Dover, PA. Their "sin" was to defeat in the 2005-NOV elections all of the members of their local school board who had voted in favor of teaching intelligent design.
John Spong replied:
Pat Robertson has said so many silly and ridiculous things that I wonder why anyone would pay much attention to him on any subject. He warned Orlando, Florida, that God would send a hurricane to destroy them when Orlando's decision makers added "sexual orientation" to that city's civil rights ordinance.....He has said that the feminist movement is about those women who want to "leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft and become lesbians." The tirade of absurdities goes on and on.
This country treasures the precious gift of free speech and Pat Robertson can obviously say any foolish and ignorant thing he wishes. When he pretends to speak in the name of God, however, I think his fellow believers have a right, indeed a necessity, to speak a word of judgment on his behavior since his words slander the Christian definition of God as Love given to us first by the author of the First Epistle of John and even more important, lived out by Jesus, who called us even to love our enemies.
.... I wonder who, other than Pat himself, designated Pat Robertson to be God's spokesperson? How dare Pat assume that the God revealed in the Jesus I serve is filled with all of Pat's peculiar prejudices......Pat needs to understand that he is acting out the very meaning of idolatry. He has confused God with himself.
....some one needs to inform Pat Robertson that the idea of God sitting on a throne above the clouds manipulating the weather in order to punish sinners is so primitive and so naïve that it is staggering to the educated imagination.....No educated person today believes that the earth is the center of the universe and that God lives above the sky, playing with low-pressure systems and planning revenge on those who are not believers in Intelligent Design. Indeed why would anyone be drawn to the demonic deity who emerges in Pat's thinking and teaching? .....Those ideas are so ludicrous as to be laughable, except for the fact that for anyone to suggest such incredible things is still painfully hurtful to those who are the victims of both natural and human disasters to say nothing of their surviving loved ones. I, as a Christian, am embarrassed by the public face that Pat Robertson puts on the religious tradition to which my life is dedicated.....
No one takes his thought seriously. It is a pity that some people do actually believe the things he says, but they are far fewer than he imagines. It is an even greater pity that the news media think that his continued utterances are worthy of any public attention at all. 10
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Alan Cooperman, "Where most see a weather system, some see divine retribution," Washington Post, 2005-SEP-04, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
- Jody Brown and Allie Martin, "New Orleans Residents: God's Mercy Evident in Katrina's Wake" Agape Press, 2005-SEP-02, at: http://headlines.agapepress.org/
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"Hurricane Katrina destroys New Orleans days before 'Southern Decadence'," Repent America, 2005-AUG-31, at: http://www.repentamerica.com/
- "Pat Robertson's statement regarding terrorist attack," Christian Broadcasting Network, 2001-SEP-14, at: http://www.cbn.com/
- Manuel Roig-Franzia and Spencer Hsu, "White House shifts blame for Katrina response. Administration, embattled FEMA chief point to state, local officials," The Washington Post, 2005-SEP-04, at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
- Deborah Caldwell, "Did God Send the Hurricane? This natural disaster is bringing together a perfect storm of environmentalist and religious doomsday sayers," Beliefnet, circa 2005-SEP-03, at: http://www.beliefnet.com/
- "Katrina," Hungry Heart Ministries, at: http://www.hungryheartsministries.com/
- http://www.hungryheartsministries.com/id160.html
- "Qeren," the royalist movement of Israel, has its home page at: http://www.qeren.net/
- "Bishop Spong Q&A on Pat Robertson," Weekly newsletter for 2005-NOV-16. Signup at: http://secure.agoramedia.com/ We have edited his answer in order to prune it below the 500 word limit which is allowed under copyright law.
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Copyright © 2005 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally posted: 2005-SEP-04
Latest update: 2005-NOV-17
Author: B.A. Robinson
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