Hurricane and Abel

Hurricane and Abel

Typically, after tragedies, there are plenty of people saying the tragedies were God’s way of punishing us. However, Hurricane Katrina was mostly absent of such declarations. Okay, there were SOME. Actually, the first one I saw was in a letter to the editor claiming, essentially, that Hurricane Katrina never would have happened if the Jews in Gaza weren’t forced out. I don’t recall any of the usual suspects spewed out from the usual “newsworthy” god spokespersons: gays, gay marriage, abortions, and God being allegedly “banned from the public square.” Apparently, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have the month off. I’m just kidding, of course. Robertson has way been too busy telling his followers (shudder) to ask God to kill off Supreme Court justices and suggesting the U.S. government kill off Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Wasn’t there a Ten Commandment thing about killing? Oh, well. Never mind.

Since few are suggesting God is punishing us this time, it may be a good time to discuss this; since it isn’t a hot button issue with all the attached emotions. So why is God punishing us?

Well, we can rule out God being banned from the public square. As any non-Christian in December can tell you, Christians have it pretty good in these United States. Sure, there may be more Santa’s villages than nativity scenes, but that’s the fault of the believers not the government. Besides, if a traditionally overweight gentleman--dressed in winter garb and lugging a sack full of goodies--fitting into an average-size chimney isn’t a miracle from heaven, I don’t know what is.

Moreover, the folks complaining about God being banned use, as evidence, that other religions can have their religious symbols displayed. I don’t know if that is true or not, but wouldn’t religions having their religious symbols displayed be evidence that God is NOT being banned in the public square. When Christian-conspiracy buffs get their story straight, we can discuss this further.

So we move on to abortion. I don’t know. It arguably violates a commandment (see “Pat Robertson” cross referenced with “hobbies”). On the other hand, look who many in the Christian right look to as sent from heaven: George W. Bush. He’s a guy who went against his father’s judgment and started a war to kill those between him and the oil he coveted, bearing false witness against Saddam Hussein in the process, so he could control the oil. Let me see: false witness, killing, coveting, stealing, and dishonoring thy father and mother. I count five commandment violations right there in a single decision. Good thing he didn’t start the thing on the Sabbath.

So, the question changes a bit. If Bush is a literal godsend, does God not care so much about the Old Testament tidbits or was Bush sent as a punishment? And what sins did we commit that God punished us with George W. Bush?

Anti-gay folks tell us that the bible calls homosexuality a sin. Where does it say that? Leviticus. Just to double-check ourselves--make certain we aren’t missing any possible sins worthy of punishment from God--we’ll take a scan of Leviticus. When trying to stop God’s wrath, sometimes you need to think outside the Republican Christian box.

Wherever you dwell, you shall not partake of any blood, be it of bird or of animal (Chapter 7)

Great! Beef is now blamed for salmonella, weight issues, trichinosis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and faucet blood. The new slogan for non-Kosher meat should be “Beef: Dinners for Sinners.”

Of all land animals these are the ones you may eat: any animal that has hoofs you may eat, provided it is cloven-footed and chews the cud (Chapter 11)

Bring me my hasenpfeffer!

Of the various creatures that live in the water, you may eat the following: whatever in the seas or in river waters has both fins and scales you may eat. But of the various creatures that crawl or swim in the water, whether in the sea or in the rivers, all those that lack either fins or scales are loathsome for you, and you shall treat them as loathsome. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall loathe. (Chapter 11)

So, who’s going to join me at Red Lobster tonight? Oops, maybe not.

do not sow a field of yours with two different kinds of seed (Chapter 19);

Do gardens count as fields? Anyway, I’m no farmer, but I believe hay comes from planting two or more different kinds of seed. What about the hybrid corns? No wonder this doesn’t get too much publicity in the farming “red” states.

do not put on a garment woven with two different kinds of thread. (Chapter 19)

Never have nudist beaches seemed so holy.

Do not clip your hair at the temples, nor trim the edges of your beard. (Chapter 19)

Wow, there are a lot of folks learning toward eternal damnation over this one!

do not tattoo yourselves. (Chapter 19)

Since Paradise is out, might as well join Hell’s Angels.

For six years you may sow your field, and for six years prune your vineyard, gathering in their produce. But during the seventh year the land shall have a complete rest, a sabbath for the LORD, when you may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. (Chapter 25)

Again with the unholy farmers. What gives?

Interspersed throughout are restrictions about biblical knowledge of this relative or that relative, although it doesn’t specifically mention the Jerry Springer show directly.

Be careful, then, to observe all my statutes and decrees. (Chapter 20)

Whew! Finally! The one which gives this entire piece biblical validation. That is the point. Scapegoating a minority population for life’s tragedies while ignoring other equally relevant laws doesn’t make anyone holy; only hateful.

Technically speaking, I don’t see where Leviticus condemns homosexuality. Here are the two big quotes that I know of:

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives. (Chapter 20)

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination (Chapter 18)

The second quote doesn’t specify the gender of “you.” In both quotes, men should not lie with men as they do with women. Homosexuals don’t. It’s the bi-sexuals who are take from column A and column B. Same-sex marring isn’t wrong. According to the Leviticus, you’re okay as long as you don’t marry a man AND a woman.

The point is not, necessarily, that certain things are not sins. The point is that there are a lot of sins listed in the Bible. How can people say God is concerned about some specific sins, but not others? And what of the thousands of ignored biblical quotes telling us to help those less fortunate?

After the hurricane, when she visited the Astrodome in Houston, Barbara Bush was quoted as saying “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.”

Critics have claimed that this quote shows how out of touch Republicans and/or conservatives are. Quite to the contrary. If they were out of touch, they would have seen these people and would have been distraught and shamed by their own ignorance and blindness. No, Barbara Bush saw people whose worldly possessions fit underneath a cot in a football stadium and she determined that this was an improvement over these people’s normal lives. That means that she has some idea of what it means to be poor in America (apparently, worse than living on a cot in a football stadium), but has done nothing about it and has supported politicians who appear to strive to make matters worse. No, Barbara Bush isn’t out of touch with the poor; she just doesn’t seem to care.

That HAS to trump gay marriage for attracting God’s wrath.

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