Many conservative, fundamentalist Christians tend to view the world through a specialized lens. They believe that God has the power to affect the world in any way He chooses and is intimately involved in the world. This, quite logically, leads to the belief that God causes and directs everything that affects both them and the world. Asian tsunami? God’s design. Presidential election? God’s plan for America. Fired? God’s plan for my life. Hurricane Katrina? God’s judgment on either the United States, Louisiana, New Orleans, or the poor people left behind — depending on whom you ask.

According to Pastor Rick Scarborough:

Scriptures teach us that God will not be mocked. The scenes of devastation in New Orleans we’re witnessing on the nightly news show us a catastrophe of Biblical proportions.

If that weren’t enough, the chaos that’s sweeping the ravaged city is a sad reminder that when God brings the deluge, the floodgates will open and unimaginable evil will wash over us.

[...]

After September 11, 2001, “God bless America” was on everyone’s lips. But what, exactly, are we asking God to bless – a nation moving a breakneck speed toward homosexual marriage, a nation awash in pornography, a nation in which our children are indoctrinated in perversion in the public schools, a nation in which most public displays of The Ten Commandments are considered offensive to the Constitution, a nation in which the elite does all in its considerable power to efface our Biblical heritage?

We are sowing the wind. Surely, we shall reap the whirlwind.

One other factor which must be considered: Days before Katrina nearly wiped New Orleans off the map, 9,000 Jewish residents of Gaza were driven from their homes with the full support of the United States government. Could this be a playing out of prophesy (“I will bless that nation that blesses you, and curse the nation that curses you”)?

Columnist Stan Goodenough reports on others who push the Katrina-Gaza connection:

A North Carolina pastor has expressed his concern for the future of the United States should the Bush Administration insist on the implementation of the “Road Map.”

In comments made after witnessing the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina last week, Jesse Stines of the Blue Ridge Mountain Church in Elk Park, NC warned that America’s insistence on the implementation of its land-for-peace plan could see worse disasters hit the US.

Stines, a staunch supporter of Israel who has visited the Jewish state almost every year since 1981, said since the institution of the Road Map and the announcement of the planned “disengagement” he had been “preaching everywhere – warning the people” that this policy would see “the wrath of God released upon our nation.”

[...]

The North Carolinian described last week’s mammoth disaster as “the worst storm in the history of America.”

“If we continue on with this Road Map – not to peace, but to hell – Hurricane Katrina is only the beginning of disasters that will hit this nation.”

Moving right along, Repent America is claiming that gays are responsible for the storm:

Repent America says that God “destroyed” New Orleans because of Southern Decadence, the gay festival that was to have taken place in the city over the Labor Day weekend.

“Southern Decadence” has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars” Repent America director Michael Marcavage said in a statement Wednesday.

“Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city.” Marcavage said. “From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence’, New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.”

Finally, a pro-choice group believes that God punished Lousiana because of abortion:

The image of the hurricane above with its eye already ashore at 12:32 PM Monday, August 29 looks like a fetus (unborn human baby) facing to the left (west) in the womb, in the early weeks of gestation (approx. 6 weeks). Even the orange color of the image is reminiscent of a commonly used pro-life picture of early prenatal development (see sign with picture of 8-week pre-born human child below). In this picture, and in another picture in today’s on-line edition of USA Today*, this hurricane looks like an unborn human child. Louisiana has 10 child-murder-by-abortion centers – FIVE are in New Orleans www.ldi.org (‘Find an Abortion Clinic [sic]‘)

Baby-murder state # 1 – California (125 abortion centers) – land of earthquakes, forest fires, and mudslides
Baby-murder state # 2 – New York (78 abortion centers) – 9-11 Ground Zero
Baby-murder state # 3 – Florida (73 abortion centers) – Hurricanes Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne in 2004; and now, Hurricane Katrina in 2005

God’s message: REPENT AMERICA !

(Hat tip to Radley Balko for the multiple links.)

Ever since I saw these statements, I’ve been sure of my response. I haven’t been sure of the best way to communicate my response, however. I’ll let Mark Shea do the talking for me:

Until further notice from God…

I’m going to stick with the daring theory that New Orleans was destroyed by a hurricane, not by divine wrath.

That will bother some of the holier folk, who are quite certain they discern in recent events the fate of sinners in the hands of an angry God. However, as one of God’s duller and more bovine creatures, my ears are not attuned to the frequencies by which he communicates these absolute truths to some. From where I sit, there are certain things I think it’s safe to say. First, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Second, God is in control of stuff (including weather). Third, life is extremely mysterious. Fourth, God is the judge of the world, not me and not even my most especially holiest readers. Fifth, if I were in the position of people in New Orleans, I would be strongly tempted to give a good swift kick to the Holy Ones whose first thought is not, “How can I help?” but “This is your fault, you know.”

Theodicy is a fun game in the abstract. Sort of like playing “Lifeboat” in a college bull session. I enjoy a good game of “What if” as much as the next guy. But playing Lifeboat is much less fun when you are in a lifeboat and sensible people know that there is a time and place for speculating on the mysterious purposes of the Almighty and a time and a place for shutting one’s trap and just helping.

[...] I believe God judges evil. I do not believe that I’m qualified to know every instance of his doing this. My own experience of judgement (and what little I can glean from Scripture) suggests that about the worst way we can approach that mystery is to picture God as a huge pissed-off bearded guy who smashes whole populations indiscriminately without bothering to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty. From what I can tell, “Judgement” typically appears to take place when God shows us our own faces and reveals to us who we really are. In the crucifixion, a terrible judgement is rendered against Caiaphas, against Pilate, against Peter and the disciples, against Judas. But the judgement is intrinsic to who they are. God doesn’t stop the proceedings and smash the evildoers. He bears the consequences of their sin.

Please read the whole thing. I couldn’t have said it better myself.