XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.democrats.d, alt.pol   
   tics.democrats.d   
   XPost: sac.general, alt.rush-limbaugh, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: webermark@polaris.net   
      
   Cicero Venatio wrote   
      
   > Hurricane Harvey - God's Punishment on Texas Evangelicals &   
   > "Christians".   
   >   
   > Even Tranny Freak Ann Coulter says so.   
   >   
   >   
   > As Texas “christians” and evangelicals would have it, god is   
   > judgemental and serves retribution for bad behavior. In a   
   > state that still thinks Barack Obama was muslin and   
   > hurricane Katrina was punishment to New Orleans, what goes   
   > around comes around.Texas ( by their own mentality ) is being   
   > punished for, ( pick one or add your own reason ) denying   
   > climate change, electoral gerrymandering, eliminating planned   
   > parenthood,building a wall,Gregg Abbott, Rick Perry , Rep.   
   > Gohmert, Ted Cruz, supporting Trump  (who contradicts   
   > everything “’christians’’ supposedly disavow) , fracking,   
   > open carry of guns,executions or just because  they fucking   
   > hate America.   
   >   
   >   
   > As Texas “christians” and evangelicals would have it, god is   
   > judgemental and serves retribution for bad behavior. In a   
   > state that still thinks Barack Obama was muslin and   
   > hurricane Katrina was punishment to New Orleans, what goes   
   > around comes around.Texas ( by their own mentality ) is being   
   > punished for, ( pick one or add your own reason ) denying   
   > climate change, electoral gerrymandering, eliminating planned   
   > parenthood,building a wall,Gregg Abbott, Rick Perry , Rep.   
   > Gohmert, Ted Cruz, supporting Trump  (who contradicts   
   > everything “’christians’’ supposedly disavow) , fracking,   
   > open carry of guns,executions or just because .   
   >   
   > This is meant tongue and cheek. I live in Texas ( storm path   
   > ) and was on Hilton Head last year for Mathew. I know well   
   > the potential hazards of major storms and work in storm   
   > recovery .   
   >   
   >   
   > Usually, their logic revolves around LGBT themes — Buster   
   > Wilson of the American Family Association insisted God sent   
   > Hurricane Isaac to stop an annual LGBT festival; the Rev.   
   > Franklin Graham blamed Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans’   
   > “orgies”; and Catholic priest Gerhard Wagner called Katrina   
   > “divine retribution” for New Orleans’ tolerance of   
   > homosexuality. Other times, the scapegoat is gay marriage,   
   > abortion rights or foreign policies seen as harmful to   
   > Israel. Yet as Harvey, now a tropical storm, continues to   
   > turn its Super Soakers on Houston, those quick to see God’s   
   > angry handiwork in earlier storms have so far focused their   
   > efforts on praising Houston’s first responders and citizen   
   > volunteers. “The ‘Cajun Navy’ is at it again!,” Graham shared   
   > on Facebook, referring to a band of Louisiana boaters   
   > involved in the rescue effort. “Out there with their boats   
   > rescuing people stranded by #HurricaneHarvey floodwaters. I   
   > thank God for people willing to step up and help others —   
   > real Good Samaritans!” And Focus on the Family founder James   
   > Dobson, who once blamed the Sandy Hook school shooting on   
   > America’s acceptance of gay marriage and abortion, commended   
   > “the heroic efforts of emergency personnel and the National   
   > Guard as they work to rescue and comfort those stranded and   
   > displaced by the flooding.” Certainly, the vast majority of   
   > religious groups and leaders respond to all kinds of natural   
   > disasters with concern, prayer and warm outreach — as many   
   > are doing now. News stories from the flood zones note   
   > churches opening as shelters and pastors and others coming to   
   > people’s aid. Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups all have   
   > relief efforts aimed at Texas. But the idea of a vengeful God   
   > is nothing new in America. It came here with the Puritans and   
   > was firmly established here with the Rev. Jonathan Edwards’   
   > 1741 sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” which is   
   > still studied by seminarians and history and English students   
   > alike. And by no means is the idea limited to Christians.   
   > Muslim imams in Egypt blamed Sandy on an anti-Islamic film,   
   > and at least one Jewish rabbi blamed Katrina on the U.S.   
   > support of the Israeli pullout of Gaza. But where   
   > conservative Christian leaders have sometimes apportioned   
   > blame for natural disasters, some are now publicly cautioning   
   > against it. “[H]ad we been living in biblical times, we would   
   > have recognized a hurricane like this as a sign of divine   
   > judgment, repenting of our sins and asking for mercy,”   
   > Michael Brown, an evangelical Christian broadcaster and a   
   > member of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory   
   > board, wrote two days after Harvey hit the Gulf Coast. “We   
   > must be very careful before we make divine pronouncements   
   > about hurricanes and other natural disasters, as if they were   
   > specific acts of divine judgment against specific sets of   
   > sinners.” Stephen T. Davis, a professor of philosophy at   
   > Claremont McKenna College who has written about Christian   
   > theodicy — the problem of why bad things happen to good   
   > people — said the idea of God’s punishment gets “very little   
   > traction” outside conservative religious circles. He said in   
   > an email that “the secular world finds explanations like ‘God   
   > wanted to punish Houston’ ridiculous.” But Peter Montgomery,   
   > a senior fellow at People for the American Way, which   
   > monitors the religious right, said the reaction from the   
   > usual finger-waggers “is different this time around.” “I   
   > checked with my colleagues and we have a couple of theories.”   
   > One theory is that Texas, with a few exceptions like the   
   > famously liberal Austin, is a religious right stronghold.   
   > Gov. Greg Abbott is popular with conservative Christians, so   
   > perhaps they are less willing to suggest God is unhappy with   
   > him. Abbott supports tougher abortion access laws and signed   
   > the “Pastor Protection Act,” which allows pastors to refuse   
   > to marry same-sex couples. Another theory is that Christian   
   > conservatives don’t want to suggest Houston deserves divine   
   > retribution. In 2015, city voters soundly struck down an   
   > anti-discrimination bathroom law with support from many   
   > conservative Christian groups and leaders. They had a simple   
   > slogan: “No men in women’s bathrooms.” “That makes it hard   
   > for the religious right to say there is some kind of   
   > collective sin in Houston that God wants to punish,”   
   > Montgomery said. “But if Harvey had hit New Orleans, you   
   > still would have had people dredging up decadence in that   
   > city, or if an earthquake had hit San Francisco, you would   
   > have had people saying it was because of homosexuality.”   
   > Brown noted as much in his cautionary remarks, saying:   
   > “Houston is one of the few cities that has stood bravely   
   > against the rising tide of LGBT activism. Why would God   
   > single out Houston for judgment?” Another theory is that the   
   > religious right voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump. Texas,   
   > a red state, voted for Trump. And while Houston’s Harris   
   > County went blue, all but one of its surrounding counties —   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)