New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin made some
statements today that were similar to statements by Pat Robertson, suggesting that God is punishing America with natural disasters for various sins:
NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.
"Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.
"Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves."
Nagin is a Democrat (although a Bush donor and alleged former Republican), and his condemnation of Iraq is appealing to people on our side of the political spectrum. Still, I don't approve of these statements any more than I approve of Pat Robertson's various explanations for natural disasters. There aren't many things more arrogant than asserting that God agrees with your political views to such an extent that he would kill innocent people to make a point.
Nagin's speech also focused on his desire to rebuild New Orleans as a majority black city, and the need to deal with black-on-black crime. But these elements of the speech are included lower in the article. The author apparently decided that Nagin's claims about God were the big story, and the other statements were secondary. I'm willing to bet that right-wingers will play this up, in an attempt to respond to the embarrassing statements made by Robertson and others on the religious right.
Just to review, here are some of the things that Pat Robertson had said about God's desire to punish the U.S. and others.
On Ariel Sharon:
"God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible and he says `This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, `No, this is mine."'
On Dover, PA:
"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city."
"And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for His help because he might not be there."
On abortion and natural disasters:
'I was reading, yesterday, a book that was very interesting about what God has to say in the Old Testament about those who shed innocent blood. And he used the term that those who do this, "the land will vomit you out." That -- you look at your -- you look at the book of Leviticus and see what it says there. And this author of this said, "well 'vomit out' means you are not able to defend yourself." But have we found we are unable somehow to defend ourselves against some of the attacks that are coming against us, either by terrorists or now by natural disaster? Could they be connected in some way? And he goes down the list of the things that God says will cause a nation to lose its possession, and to be vomited out. And the amazing thing is, a judge has now got to say, "I will support the wholesale slaughter of innocent children" in order to get confirmed to the bench.'
On 9/11:
Falwell said: "The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen."
Robertson said, "I totally concur, and the problem is we've adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government, and so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do, and the top people, of course, is the court system."
On Orlando's Gay Days event:
"I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don't think I'd be waving those flags in God's face if I were you."