Our American exceptionalism does not, it turns out, hold a monopoly on creepy and crazy religious zealots that try to assign divine reach to natural and man-made disasters. Giving our top evangelists a run for their money is an Eastern European contender who claims he alone knows the cause for last month’s horrible flooding in the region. Let’s be clear: groups that actively seek to bring harm to others are not guided by God. They act because they are unwilling or unable to recognize the humanity in those they attack. Weather events are not guided by the hand of God. They are natural phenomena that follow natural laws.
So sure, the late-Jerry Falwell’s assertion that 9/11 was visited upon us because God was mad at the abortionists, idolaters, adulterers, ACLU, gays and others for trying to make America a secular nation seemed a special brand of crazy.
And then just four short years later, Columbia Christians for Life channeled their inner Courtney Love to read the satellite imagery of Hurricane Katrina. Their email stated:
The image of the hurricane, with its eye already ashore at 12:32 p.m., Monday, August 29, looks like a fetus (unborn human baby) facing to the left (west) in the womb in the early weeks of gestation (approximately 6 weeks).
The five health clinics that provided safe and legal abortion to the women of New Orleans were, according to the group, most definitely in God’s crosshairs with the killer storm.
Why stop there? About a year after the storm, Pastor John Hagee claimed Katrina roared ashore and took more than 1,800 lives because New Orleans allowed Gay Pride Parades and events to take place. Yeah… that seems sensible.
But why should American clergy have all the fun? That might be why Serbian Orthodox cleric Patriarch Amfilohije of Montenegro has taken to blaming the recent spate of flooding that killed as many as 50 and displaced another 150,000 on Mr. Tom Neuwirth of Austria.
Eurovision 2014 Winning Song: Rise Like A Phoenix
Mr. Neuwirth, whom you might better recognize as Conchita Wurst, the bearded drag act that took home top honors at this year’s Eurovision contest, should be viewed as a canary in a coal mine, the eastern European zealot explains. He states:
This is not a coincidence, but a warning. God sent the rains as a reminder that people should not join the wild side.
Conchita Wurst now joins a long and distinguished list of patsies the blow hard religious leaders can trot out to try and explain actions and events they are unable to understand on any scientific or human level.
photo credit: Conchita Wurst – wikipedia.org
(Originally published at addictinginfo.org)
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