(Non-technical post: Fedora folks can skip this if they like, I just feel the need to rant as this offends me deeply)
Context: My city of Brisbane, Australia is currently experiencing the worst floods in the region since 1974; Outlying areas and regional towns and cities are cut off and practically underwater. 9 have died and 72 people unaccounted for in Toowoomba, about 1hr outside of Brisbane.
This evangelical preacher, Pastor Daniel Nalliah of “Catch The Fire” Church believes this is his God’s wrath for an ex-Prime Minister asking the state of Israel to participate in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)
Here’s my response: Originally sent as a comment, but posted here for posterity (and because I suspect Pastor Nalliah has the moral courage to approve comments not matching his own viewpoints)
As a Brisbanite currently preparing for the worst of these floods I take extreme offense to this post and the ignorant, spiteful rhetoric you appear to espouse.
To blame natural disasters affecting hundreds of thousands of people on a politician’s failure to back your *political* belief of choice is utterly vile and as un-Christian as a person of sound mind can conceive.
I (as a practicing Zen Buddhist amenable to the core beliefs of other faiths) have been under the impression that Christ and his followers showed compassion to their brothers and sisters, especially in times of hardship? Am I mistaken? Is compassion in your church only applicable to those who follow your beliefs in lock-step fashion?
If you are truly a Christian (or a decent human being of any ethical / moral character irrespective of believe or lack thereof) then you’ll recant your comments and apologize to the people of Brisbane.
If you truly believe in your heart that the people of Brisbane deserve to suffer because a former Prime Minister’s reasonable call for a government to disengage from creation / proliferation of weaponry capable of killing millons – then frankly I pity you and consider you a poor excuse for a human being with no place in providing ethical and moral guidance to anyone and may your God have mercy on *you*.
While I doubt that this comment will be posted to your site at all (as I’m not preaching to the choir :-)) I would be sincerely interested in a considered response. I will also be posting it to my own blog for the consideration of others, even if you fail to publish it.
Gassho,
Michael Fleming