In the 21st century, shouldn't we be able to stop attributing natural phenomena to the gods?
Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.
---Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787
Attention blind followers of religion: God put grey matter between your ears for a reason: he wanted you to think with it. You undermine God's divine wisdom by refusing to do so. In the twenty-first century, we no longer need to believe in wild superstition to explain natural phenomena. We know what causes lightning and thunder now. We know how weather systems form, build, and dissipate. We know that Thor is not hammering in the sky, nor is Zeus throwing lightning bolts. And we know that God does not send hurricanes to punish regions for their sins.
(In fact, what possible biblical basis could there be for believing otherwise? Did God ever threaten to send a hurricane to destroy people? Sure, the Old Testament God was certainly cranky and turned the occasional person into a pillar of salt, but didn't God also promise never to send massive floods again? But I digress...)
God did not send hurricane Katrina. Say that out loud. God did not send hurricane Katrina. It's no surprise that hurricane Katrina came about. Every year, without fail, hurricanes threaten the US Gulf Coast. It's a fact of life for that region. I know - I lived on the Gulf Coast for 12 years. (Twelve long, long years.) Hurricanes are as certain as the roaches that fly and the spontaneous torrential downpours on otherwise clear, sunny days.
The means by which hurricanes form is very well-understood. It has to do with heat evaporating ocean water and a lack of wind shear which allows a small storm to develop into a well-organized large storm orbiting a central area of low pressure. Typically these storms begin as tropical depressions and over a period of days, depending on water conditions and a host of other variables, develop into much stronger, more-organized storms. Hurricane Katrina began as a tropical depression off the coast of the Bahamas six days before hitting Louisiana. It's not like God just got up on the wrong side of the bed one day and lobbed a hurricane at the sinners. Everything about the way Katrina developed and progressed happened the same way it has happened for every other hurricane the region has ever seen. Computer models predicted the landfall location days in advance.
Yet that didn't stop Alabama state senator Hank Erwin (a Republican from Montevallo) from proclaiming that Hurricane Katrina was God's wrath, saying "New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness. It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God."
Yes, because Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina are completely devoid of gambling, sin and wickedness. What was the sin of Galveston, Texas that brought the wrath of God in the form of hurricane Rita then? Or was Rita different? Is there some instrument we can use to figure out which hurricanes are God's wrath versus which ones are just naturally forming?
Others have suggested that Katrina was God's wrath on the United States for invading Iraq, allowing legal abortion, supporting Israel's pull-out from Gaza.
The Rev. Robert Guste in giving the invocation at the first meeting of the New Orleans city council since Katrina struck blamed the hurricane on Southern Decadence, Mardi Gras, pornography, and gambling. Because gay festivals, parties , porn and gambling only happen in New Orleans. Or maybe Bill Bennett's hotel room. The priest asked the council, "Does this not invite divine judgment?" Apparently not: the French Quarter, the heart of New Orleans debauchery, was one of the few areas largely spared from destruction...
...so maybe it was God's wrath on all of the churches in the New Orleans area that are filled with pompous, self-righteous people like the Reverend Guste.
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