My local gym's satellite radio system has been on the fritz for a couple of weeks now. To help alleviate the silence, the gym has been playing a different radio station every day. Today, they had the local R&B station on. Specifically, they had the morning show for the local R&B station on. A lot of the topics were based on or about the Hurricane Katrina disaster down South. One of the topics that they were discussing was how the Katrina disaster and others around the world (ie: London bombings, Spain bombings, plane crashes) were due to society's spiritual divergence. It was interesting to hear the radio personalities avoid specifically naming any type of spiritual transgressions but you could tell they were referring to people who "did not follow the bible."

Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and all other weather-related disasters can be tragic when people are forced into distress. But, is this because "god" is trying to tell you to lead a "better" life? Uh, no. Strong winds are not brought on by inter-racial breeding. Flood waters are not caused by homosexual behavior. Volcanic eruptions are not caused by pedophiles. To think that praying harder is going to stop hurricanes from hitting the gulf coast is absolute imbecillic. Why not just do a rain dance in the Sahara? Or say 20 more Hail Mary's so that the San Andreas Fault vanishes?

A lot of the people who called in to give their "2 cents" basically had the same conclusion: the disaster was brought on by us. I found it very disheartening that people believe that they could have stopped Hurricane Katrina. And by following "god's word". There were a small group of callers who insisted that there was nothing we could do when it came to the weather. One went on to say that knowing that a hurricane could cause such damage, why wasn't the government more proactive in creating some sort of plan (like better levees, better evacuation plans, better recovery plans). Why indeed? Oh, because it busy creating Iraq.

Weather atrocities happen all over the world. Every year, parts of Asia get flooded because of monsoons. Every year, parts of Africa have zero rainfall. Do people survive and live on? Yes. Are they at fault because they don't follow "god's word"? No. Why do we, as Americans, always have to bring it back to doing "god's bidding"? What if I don't believe in a god? Is it my fault?

As a global community some of us are so caught up in "god's word" that we let it rule our lives. We deny people basic human rights because "god says so." We create animosity toward other societal groups that do not affect us because "god says so." We spend our time concentrating on trivial pursuits rather than improving our infrastructure. We hurt, destroy, and kill others because "god says so." And here I thought your "god" was supposed to be self-less and loving.

I wish people would open their minds and educate themselves. Because as is said, "god helps those who help themselves." At least, that what they say god says so. Later.  ¶ 10:26 AM