Summary Chapter 10: Supernatural Disasters

1
Summary Chapter 10Supernatural Disasters

• Disciplines of Obvious Relationship
• Philosophy, religion

2
In the wake of Katrina, a number of figures spoke
about the meaning of the storm. Some argued that
it was Gods will, while others explored the
question of human and natural responsibility for
the catastrophe. (p.179)
3
The faithful must also provide a thoughtful
response to those who purport to discern Gods
vengeance(p.179)
4
Voices from every corner of the religious map
weighed in on how God had used the hurricane to
punish the nation. (p.179) Could it be that God
caused Katrina?
5
A prominent Israeli rabbiannounced perhaps
jokinglythat Katrina was Gods punishment for
President Bushs support of the August 2005
withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza
Strip. (p.180)
6
Al Qaida in Iraq said that, God attacked America
and the prayers of the oppressed were answered.
(p.180)
7
Minister Louis Farrakhan argued that Hurricane
Katrina was Gods way of punishing America for
its warmongering and racism. (p.180)
8
Conservative Christians battered the victimsMany
ministers argued that New Orleans faced divine
retribution because it was a haven for sin.
(p.180)
9
Conservative black minister Wellington Boone on
national television assailed, the culture of
those peopleclaiming that the looting of
property, the trashing of property, etc. speaks
to the basic character of the people
10
and that these people who have gone through
slavery, segregation and the Voting Rights Act
are doing this to themselves.(p.180)
11
Otherministers argued that because of its
abortion clinics, its annual gay pride paradeand
the slavish dependence of blacks on welfare, God
punished New Orleans.(p.181)
12
Like Bill OReilly, Rush Limbaugh argued that a
welfare state mentality prevented the black
poorfrom escaping their fate.(p.181)
13
To suggest that God chose to use the storm to
speak is presumptuous, and anachronistic, enough
but to posit its rage as person-and-issue-specific
to rid New Orleans of gays, practitioners of
voodoo and abortion, and poor blacks is
contemptuous of the precious human life God
cherishes(p.182)
14
To assume that New Orleans was a greater divine
target than bigger cities with bigger black
populations is to accuse God of poor sight or
planning.(p.183)
15
And if God wanted to destroy abortion clinics,
there are more in other states say California or
New York(p.183)
16
But does God punish the innocent to get a message
to the guilty?
17
God usually warns the righteous to scram before
disaster descends remember Noah? (p.183)
18
If God gets ready to strike, God usually offers
up ample chariots, or a whaleit was good enough
for Jonah or plenty of Fords and Chevys, to let
folk scamper out of town.(p.183)
19
In pages 183-187, Professor Dyson gives many
similar examples of this notion of forewarning
the righteous.
20
Critics Rothstein and Steinfels, quoting the
German philosopher Leibniz, offer an abbreviated
genealogy of theodicywhich translates literally
as the justice of God. (p.188)
21
A theodicy points to sources of meaning that
transcend human cause and power. (p.188)
22
Rothstein argues that the advent of Katrina spurs
the formation of other kinds of theodicy. This
time around, human agency has been seen as a
major culprit in the suffering. (p.189)
23
There are no explanations in that realm for the
origins of catastrophe, but there is an
exploration of the human failings that make us
experience disaster. (p.189)
24
In pages 189-194, Dyson investigates modern
theories and applications of theodicy to Katrina
and speculations about the governments response.
25
Next, Professor Dyson, a Baptist minister,
discusses the historical reliance on faith among
black citizens.
26
Black religious faith, especially Christianity,
discouragesa narrow interpretation of nature and
God. The suffering that human beings endure is
never Gods will. The evil that is wrought by
human beingsand the chaos that is unleashed by
nature express neither Gods vision nor
vengeance, as punitive theodicies suggest. (p.194)
27
Gods will is for human beings to flourish and
for us to live in harmony with each other and
nature. (p.194)
28
To be sure, our shortcomings poison human
community. The vicious and sinful character of
human beings constantly interrupts Gods ideal of
love as the basis of our relations with one
another. (p.195)
29
Suffering is an unavoidable aspect of our human
pilgrimage the deepest faith cannot prevent our
walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
(p.195)
30
yes, Gods grace spared the survivors, but that
doesnt mean that they are superior. The
survivors are, therefore, charged with
responsibility to live even more fully and
purposefully in the awareness of their mysterious
fortune. (p.195)
31
And the full force of attributive theodicy
commissions the rest of us to hold society
responsible for the healthy and just
reconstruction of poor black communities. (p.196)
32
black faith offers a stirring critique of the
racial and class elements swept to the surface by
Katrina. As Martin Luther King, Jr. often
saidwe must work for a world where justice
rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a
mighty stream.(p.196)
33
Even as right-wing evangelical faith sanctifies
the state, worships the market, and genuflects
before conservative government,
34
black prophetic faith must uphold the
blood-stained banner of God who identified with
human suffering and oppression, and who came to
earth to die as one of the poor and
outcast.(p.197)
35
Under the guise of supporting faith, President
Bush has shifted the burden of social services
from the government to faith-based
institutions.(p.199)
36
As John Carroll argues, that shift undermines
governmental responsibility for the poor. It also
may have contributed to the federal governments
failure to respond to Katrinas victims in an
effective and timely manner.(p.199)
37
Carroll continues to argue that citizens deserve
relief during catastrophe. Governmental help is
a form of self-help since the citizenry owns the
government. (p.199)
38
The rights of citizens to basic relief, Carroll
writes, especially in time of crisis, are rooted
not in charity, but in justiceThe war on
poverty has become a war on the poor. That it is
waged in the name of God, in alliance with those
who claim to honor God, is blasphemy.(p.200)
39
Too many black churches have reneged on the
translation of the gospel into concrete demands
for social justice(p.200)
40
The black church must reclaim its legacy of
prophetic angerOther wise, we forfeit our right
to be called sons and daughters of a God whose
first love is always to those who are last.(p.200)
41
End of Summary of Chapter 10
42
They were desperate for a glimpse of hope beyond
the hell and high water into which they had been
plungedAnd some of them undoubtedly wondered
where God was in all of this. Perhaps they even
believed that this was Gods will?Could it be
that God caused Katrina? This question is
addressed next in chapter 10 Supernatural
Disasters Theodicy and Prophetic Faith.
43
End of Summary of Chapter 9