Saturday, November 15, 2008

Selective Attribution of the Wrath of God














When hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans (and surrounding areas) some fundamentalist Christians proclaimed that it was God's judgement. For example, John Hagee stated that God sent hurricane Katrina because of a planned "homosexual rally" in New Orleans. I guess in Hagee's mind, Biloxi was just collateral damage.

So now I have to wonder what Hagee makes of the wildfires that are destroying homes in California a week after Prop 8 passed. If Prop 8 had failed--which would have upheld the right of gay couples to marry in California--and then the wildfires came, I'm sure Hagee and his ilk would right now be labelling the fires as God's righteous wrath upon Californians. But since Prop 8 passed--taking the right of marriage away from gay couples--why not claim that the fires are an expression of God's anger at the people of California for marginalizing a subset of the population and denying them civil rights? Sort of like the way that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was not a judgement against homosexuality but against greed and callousness towards the poor, according to Ezekiel 16:49.

It's funny how some folks, like Hagee, will opportunistically attribute natural disasters to God's wrath if and when it suits their agenda. What Hagee and those like him do is, in my opinion, blasphemy. And that is playing with fire.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about Ezekiel 16:50?

5:48 AM  
Blogger Daniel P. (Danny) Coleman said...

Hi Dave! Yep, that's another one.

3:40 PM  

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