As I watch the stories of the devastation in Haiti on nearly every news outlet I usually watch, it didn't even occur to me to think to check in on the crazies who regularly blame tragedies like this on a vengeful God who is taking out his wrath on people most would find innocent, but who apparently have secret sins that only someone with a Batphone to God would know about. We all remember the late Jerry Fawell and his 'inciteful' view as to the cause of the 9/11 attacks:
JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out 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 have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
(Rant continues over the jump)
Well, Mr. Fawell's partner in promoting that view, Pat Robertson, picked up the 'baton' with his view of why a 7.0 on the Richter scale earthquake was visited on Haiti.
"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," he said on Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club." "They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal."
Robertson said that "ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other" and he contrasted Haiti with its neighbor, the Dominican Republic.
I know I'm "preaching to the choir here" in pointing out that what's left of these far-right 'Christian' preachers have taken a religion based on 'Love thy Brother' and turned it into a 'Blame it on thy Brother' bunch of 'Crazy Talk', but, I think we all need a 'booster shot' like this on occasion to remind us what's out there that we're all fighting against.
I want to cite the two websites who's content I quoted above:
Fawell.
Robertson.
Cosmic Debris' aid diary.