On the Providential cleansing of New Orleans

On Wednesday I posted a laundry list of groups who are claiming that Katrina was the result of God's anger. Feminists, blacks, homosexuals, harlots-- all the usual criminals and sinners.

Today, a New Orleans fundamentalist introduced a sort of "unified field theory" of divine wrath.

Rev. Bill Shanks, pastor of New Covenant Fellowship of New Orleans, also sees God's mercy in the aftermath of Katrina -- but in a different way. Shanks says the hurricane has wiped out much of the rampant sin common to the city.

The pastor explains that for years he has warned people that unless Christians in New Orleans took a strong stand against such things as local abortion clinics, the yearly Mardi Gras celebrations, and the annual event known as "Southern Decadence" -- an annual six-day "gay pride" event scheduled to be hosted by the city this week -- God's judgment would be felt.

“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion -- it's free of all of those things now," Shanks says. "God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there -- and now we're going to start over again."

The New Orleans pastor is adamant. Christians, he says, need to confront sin. "It's time for us to stand up against wickedness so that God won't have to deal with that wickedness," he says.

This isn't Christian mercy. It's morbid glee at the deaths of thousands. Can't people like this wait until the last survivor has been given food, water, shelter and clothing before taking credit for being part of the Cosmic Final Solution? Even as millions of Americans hope and pray for the safety of our fellow citizens in that afflicted city, there are men such as this who ghoulishly say "I told you so" when they could be saving lives.

On principle, I won't link to the story from the Dominionist Agape Press. If you really want to read it, you won't have any trouble finding it online.