God and New Orleans

A little while back I criticized Pat Robertson for saying that God had given Ariel Sharon a stroke for giving up land "belonging" to the state of Israel.

Well, fair is fair. If someone else says something just as stupid, I guess I have to call him on it, too. Even if he is a Democrat -- and black (although while Nagin is genuinely black, he's about as much a Democrat as Michael Bloomberg is a Republican -- Nagin switched parties in order to run for mayor).

According to UPI, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin "says the hurricanes that devastated the city last year are a sign that 'God is mad at America,' and at blacks in particular. "

"As we think about rebuilding New Orleans, surely God is mad at America," the piece quotes Nagin as saying. "He's sending hurricane after hurricane after hurricane. But surely he's upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves. We're not taking care of our women. And we're not taking care of our children."

Let's see. If someone runs a red light and gets into a car accident and is killed, do you think they died because God was peeved -- or could it have a little something to do with the fact that they ran the damn red light?

New Orleans is right smack in the path of hurricanes during the season in which hurricanes are known to happen. It's like living in San Francisco -- you live on a fault line, you get earthquakes. You live there, you take your chances. God has nothing to do with it.

Can we just get over this, people? God was not out to get New Orleans, or its African-American citizens. He did not send hurricanes to send a message or to provide retribution for Mardi Gras or to punish the city in any way, shape or form. People have a hard time accepting the fact that sometimes things just happen. Bad things happen to good people and bad people alike, and there's no particular reason for it, except that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time (or, in the case of Katrina, they happened to be the wrong skin color or live in the wrong neighborhood).

Mayor Nagin said later by way of explanation of his idiotic comments that he believes he might have a case of "post-Katrina stress disorder."

Personally, I think that's an understatement.

Tom Moran