The Battered Wife Syndrome
Hurricane Katrina and other storms that battered the Gulf Coast were God's judgment of sin, according to state Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo.
"New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness," Erwin wrote this week in a column he distributes to news outlets. "It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God."
Those wacky, liberal Methodists, however, have other ideas.
William Willimon, bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, suggested another response from Christians to the disaster.
"I have no idea what sort of senator or politician Mr. Erwin is, but he's sure no theologian," Willimon said. "I'm certainly against gambling and its hold on state government in Mississippi, but I expect there is as much sin, of possibly a different order, in Montevallo as on the Gulf Coast. If God punished all of us for our sin, who could stand?
"Next week, 300 United Methodist clergy from north Alabama are spending a week working together to help folks in trouble on the Gulf Coast," he added. "That seems to me a much more appropriate Christian response than that of the senator."
The response of the church community in the affected areas has been outstanding -- far better than any government. Unfortunately, there are a few idiots among their ranks, and they are the ones who end up on the nightly news or in the newspaper.
What Erwin failed to explain is why Hurricane Ivan crushed the Alabama coast last year (no casinos or gay pride parades there!) or how Las Vegas (Sin City No. 1!) has avoided a hurricane since its founding 100 years ago. Oh, yeah, right, that would require sanity. Never mind.
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