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Resources: Essays

Prophetic talk about hurricanes

By Tony Campolo

Since the hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast, we’ve seen a wide array of religious pundits of all faiths making absurd pronouncements about the cause of these catastrophes. Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, declared these disasters to be God’s judgment on America for invading Iraq. Controversial Israeli Rabbi Ovadia Yosef claimed the hurricanes were God’s punishment for U.S. support of the withdrawal from Gaza. Some Christian radio and television evangelists contended that the hurricanes were foretold in the Bible as signs of the impending end of the world. But the most common “off the wall” explanation comes from those thundering pulpiteers who claim the hurricanes are God’s judgment on New Orleans for the sexual debauchery which, they say, marks the city.

When I hear such things, I am convinced that religious leaders who make such statements do more to drive people away from God than do all the arguments and attacks of atheists. As a Baptist minister, I must point out that the God portrayed by these self-proclaimed prophets is nothing like the loving God preached by Jesus.

The people most victimized when the hurricanes hit New Orleans were the poorest and most oppressed people of that city. The rich were able to avoid the horrors of the Superdome — they had ways to get out of town, and could afford hotel rooms in other cities. What kind of God would punish the poor in other areas of New Orleans for what goes on in the French Quarter? If God was out to strike down the strip shows of the city, then God must have bad aim, because the French Quarter was among the sections least affected by the storms. Instead, the storm took its greatest toll on poor people — the very ones Jesus called “blessed.”

I heard one preacher say the destruction that occurred in New Orleans was divine condemnation for what he called “the widespread sodomy of the city.” Perhaps this homophobic Bible-thumper should spend some time actually reading the Scriptures. If he did, he would find that Ezekiel 16:49 says the sin of Sodom was that its people lived lives of luxury while neglecting the needs of the poor. Given these words, most Americans could be damned as “sodomites.” The hurricanes have lifted the curtain and given us a glimpse of the neglected poor in New Orleans, and are forcing us to admit that there are masses of poor people like that in just about every U.S. city. An even greater number are hidden away in rural areas.

We have created a society that gives all kinds of breaks to its richest citizens, but fails to care for the 44 million Americans who have no health coverage or the countless elderly who must choose between buying food or medicine — because they can’t afford both. Ours is a nation where millions of children live well below the poverty level.

Jesus did talk about a judgment of nations. But he said this judgment would come at the end of history, and that it would be based on how those nations treated the poor of the world. We Americans who claim to take Jesus seriously should be far more concerned about our neglect of the poor than about gays in the French Quarter or strippers on Bourbon Street.

Tony Campolo, an ordained Baptist minister, is one of the world's leading Christian voices. He is professor emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. To learn more about Dr. Campolo, read more of his writings or listen to his talks, visit www.tonycampolo.org.