August 31, 2005
Storm is sign from God
The hurricane and floods in the Gulf states are another wake up call from God to the United States. Each warning gets more intense. How many more wakeup calls do we need before this nation turns back to the God of our forefathers?
The liberals are trying to remove everything godly from our nation: prayer in schools and other public arenas, the Ten Commandments from public places. They allow immorality of every type to be promoted. It is time we pray for revival in this nation, which was founded on all the things we are gradually losing. Wake up, America!
JAN LANDIS Southeast Portland
September 1, 2005
Did God make a mistake?
I wondered how long it would take a benighted fundamentalist Christian to nominate Hurricane Katrina as a sign that their God is in a snit over liberalism ("Storm is sign from God," Letters, Aug. 31). Odd that the punishment meted out by Jan Landis' God would strike three Southern red states that probably contain more Baptists and Pentecostalists per square mile than they do heedless and hedonistic liberals.
Apparently, this protest by God could have been more intelligently designed.
STEFFEN SILVIS Southeast Portland
Where superstition leads . . .
So those darn liberals are the cause of Hurricane Katrina and probably global warming, too? What's next? Sacrificing a couple of virgins into Mount St. Helens' crater every week or so?
Better get that Hubble telescope out of orbit soon because it allows us to see a universe that has been billions of years in the building. Should burning NASA scientists at the stake be the next order of business?
BILL POWELL Northeast Portland
Hurricane Katrina: God's Punishment for a 'Wicked' City?
Urban Legends and Folklore Blog
August 31, 2005
A reader writes: Is it true that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on a day that was to observe "Southern Decadence Day" with 100,000 homosexuals gathering to commit unspeakable acts in public?
In a word, no. Despite the fact that some fundamentalist Christians appear eager to characterize the disaster as "God's judgment" on the "wicked" city of New Orleans, and despite their attempt to link its timing to a gay celebration held there annually, the claims are patently absurd:
The hurricane struck on Monday, August 29. This year's Southern Decadence, sometimes called the "Gay Mardi Gras," was scheduled to open today, Wednesday the 31st, and continue through Sunday. The storm obviously did not strike on "the day" of the celebration. Many, perhaps most, of the revelers had not even arrived yet.
Southern Decadence is a 35-year-old tradition in New Orleans. Why did God choose to wait till 2005 to "punish" the city for it?
Why is the French Quarter, the district where the event (now canceled) was to be held, one of the least devastated parts of the city so far?
If this tragedy occurred because God is angry at New Orleans, what was the point of the awful devastation and loss of life wrought in Mississippi and Alabama? (And, if I - OlderMusicGeek speaking here - may add a point, Katrina was heading for New Orleans, but switch directions before hitting land. Did God get distracted and let his aim go off? Let it hit Mississippi more ?)
Lastly, if I may vent a bit, I find it shameful, given the massive destruction, loss of innocent life, and ongoing hardships suffered by the hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina, that any self-appointed spokesperson for God would have the nerve to suggest that these people in any sense deserved their fate. Natural disasters happen all the time, and Katrina was certainly not the first hurricane to strike the southern United States this season. By what logic, and by what right, does any human being arbitrarily declare that this natural disaster was a punishment meted out upon sinners by God?
Hurricane Katrina: Al Qaeda leader in Iraq sees ”start of US collapse”
Al Qaeda group in Iraq, which is led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on Sunday praised in an Internet statement what it said was the "start of the collapse" of the United States after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
"Congratulations to the Islamic nation, to our sheikh Osama abu Abdullah (Osama bin Laden) and to sheikh Ayman Zawahiri (bin Laden's deputy) for the destruction of America, which is at the forefront of evil. It is the start of its collapse."
The statement was referring to the hurricane which left some 10,000 dead.
In recent days, Islamists website connected between the storm and the "US war against Islam." According to them, Katrina was sent by God to torment the American empire.
An interesting take on God, race and Katrina
Dogpile.com Report on one Fundamentalist view of Katrina
BeliefNet's "Did God Send the Hurricane?"
