Rough Weather and the Wrath of God

What a powerful year for the weather in the United States, this 2011 of ours. Record heat in Texas, hundreds of tornadoes causing major damage in the Midwest and South. Floods of epic proportions. Hurricanes all the way to New England. Even earthquakes on the East Coast. Summer isn't even over yet. Wonder what the winter has in store...

Within hours after the major weather events this year, certain radical religious leaders began proclaiming each one as 'The wrath of an angry God, fed up with the way an immoral America is taking her course.' (The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell coming up tonight at 12:01 a.m. must really have them on the edge of their religious seats.)

Really? Again?

Two things come quickly to mind...

These kinds of weather patterns--damaging, ferocious, unusual ones--have been happening off and on for thousands of years. Even during the lifetime of the United States, many years have seen amazing weather catastrophes that seem to announce Armageddon.

Also, the Creator of the universe would seem pretty petty to be so concerned with one little nation on one little planet in one obscure galaxy in a collection of galaxies--so concerned and irritated that he could get angry enough to break the natural laws and deliberately slap that nation with extreme weather calamities. Of course, these radicals forget that powerful weather shockers are happening all over the world, all of the time.

A 'radical' example. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, one of the Far Right loud mouth-ers,  the Reverend(?) Pat Robertson, was quick to point out that God had sent the storm to New Orleans because the city was having a Gay Pride Parade. Turns out, the French Quarter, where the parade was to be held and most of the gay population lives, was left intact while the most damage was done to poor, Black and mostly good Christian neighborhoods like the 9th Ward. Was God's GPS offline?

Recently, the Catholic church has admitted that the earth and the cosmos were not created in just six days, but over many, many eons. According to the Vatican, evolution appears to be God's creative process. Our Protestant and evangelical friends could take a lesson. I applaud the Church for its courage. I don't always agree with or like Her policies; in this case, I am totally on board.

The Power and Presence that brought the universe into existence through the natural evolutionary process never breaks its own laws. That would make it inconsistent, irrational, and most of all, untrustworthy.

And, from what I have been able to observe from my tiny little corner of the world, the Creator is, if nothing else, trustworthy. And I am grateful.

The winds will blow, the waves will crash, the air will swirl, the planet will quake. The cosmos will continue to do what the cosmos does. And Armageddon will continue to be on the lips of the radicals. Still, I can say with some certainty that Armageddon, as predicted in Scripture, will not be ushering in any time soon.

And so it is.