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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Sunday, January 02, 2005 I wondered how long it would take . . . . . . before some Christian fundamentalist blamed the earthquake and tsunami on non-Christians. I didn't see this when it was first published, but Anne Gavin Richie, rector of the Church of the Resurrection (Episcopal) in Alexandria, mentioned it in her sermon this morning. This is an excerpt from a Washington Post article, by Jose Antonio Vargas, published on December 30:On his Web site Watch.org, Bill Koenig writes: "The Biblical proportions of this disaster become clearly apparent upon reports of miraculous Christian survival. Christian persecution in these countries is some of the worst in the world." Eight of the 12 countries hit -- Malaysia, Burma, Bangladesh, Somalia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, he says -- "are among the top 50 nations who persecute Christians." Koenig, who lives in Alexandria and started the site in 1996, sees the South Asian disaster as an example of Christian exceptionalism. "What happened, and we see this happen over and over again, was that Christians, supernaturally, have been able to escape from harm's way," says the self-described Christian fundamentalist. "'For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, not ever shall be,'" he says, quoting from Matthew 24:21.To equate an earthquake and tsunami with some kind of divine revenge on non-Christians is little short of blasphemy. The Bible, in fact, says that God's care and provision falls on the godly and the ungodly alike. It does not say that natural disasters happen only to the ungodly. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to verify or refute Koenig's claim that Christians were spared, as that part of his website requires an annual subscription for which Koenig charges $1.00 a week ($1.15 a week if you subscribe for only six months). Since I wasn't willing to donate money to this idiot, I wasn't able to access the alleged miraculous news. One might think that a miracle of this magnitude could be publicized without requiring payment. I'm tempted to ask, What Would Jesus Do? On another page on his site, White House correspondent Koenig writes that four of the world's worst disasters have occurred on "Catholic holidays." Since one of those holidays was Good Friday—not exactly the sole province of the Catholic Church—his scriptural understanding seems even more suspect. I should point out that Bill Koenig was not the only one who blamed the disaster on God's ire. Vargas' article mentioned leaders of other faiths who gave "divine retribution" as the cause of the earthquake and tsunami. But he's the only Christian I've come across so far who has the nerve to accuse God of killing thousands of innocent children because some of their elders don't like Christians. I trust that Bill Koenig doesn't represent the majority of Christians in his opinion, and I'm sorry the Washington Post gave him four column inches of space. posted by Liz @ 4:45 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. 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. . . before some Christian fundamentalist blamed the earthquake and tsunami on non-Christians. I didn't see this when it was first published, but Anne Gavin Richie, rector of the Church of the Resurrection (Episcopal) in Alexandria, mentioned it in her sermon this morning. This is an excerpt from a Washington Post article, by Jose Antonio Vargas, published on December 30:On his Web site Watch.org, Bill Koenig writes: "The Biblical proportions of this disaster become clearly apparent upon reports of miraculous Christian survival. Christian persecution in these countries is some of the worst in the world." Eight of the 12 countries hit -- Malaysia, Burma, Bangladesh, Somalia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, he says -- "are among the top 50 nations who persecute Christians." Koenig, who lives in Alexandria and started the site in 1996, sees the South Asian disaster as an example of Christian exceptionalism. "What happened, and we see this happen over and over again, was that Christians, supernaturally, have been able to escape from harm's way," says the self-described Christian fundamentalist. "'For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, not ever shall be,'" he says, quoting from Matthew 24:21.To equate an earthquake and tsunami with some kind of divine revenge on non-Christians is little short of blasphemy. The Bible, in fact, says that God's care and provision falls on the godly and the ungodly alike. It does not say that natural disasters happen only to the ungodly. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to verify or refute Koenig's claim that Christians were spared, as that part of his website requires an annual subscription for which Koenig charges $1.00 a week ($1.15 a week if you subscribe for only six months). Since I wasn't willing to donate money to this idiot, I wasn't able to access the alleged miraculous news. One might think that a miracle of this magnitude could be publicized without requiring payment. I'm tempted to ask, What Would Jesus Do? On another page on his site, White House correspondent Koenig writes that four of the world's worst disasters have occurred on "Catholic holidays." Since one of those holidays was Good Friday—not exactly the sole province of the Catholic Church—his scriptural understanding seems even more suspect. I should point out that Bill Koenig was not the only one who blamed the disaster on God's ire. Vargas' article mentioned leaders of other faiths who gave "divine retribution" as the cause of the earthquake and tsunami. But he's the only Christian I've come across so far who has the nerve to accuse God of killing thousands of innocent children because some of their elders don't like Christians. I trust that Bill Koenig doesn't represent the majority of Christians in his opinion, and I'm sorry the Washington Post gave him four column inches of space.
On his Web site Watch.org, Bill Koenig writes: "The Biblical proportions of this disaster become clearly apparent upon reports of miraculous Christian survival. Christian persecution in these countries is some of the worst in the world." Eight of the 12 countries hit -- Malaysia, Burma, Bangladesh, Somalia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, he says -- "are among the top 50 nations who persecute Christians." Koenig, who lives in Alexandria and started the site in 1996, sees the South Asian disaster as an example of Christian exceptionalism. "What happened, and we see this happen over and over again, was that Christians, supernaturally, have been able to escape from harm's way," says the self-described Christian fundamentalist. "'For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, not ever shall be,'" he says, quoting from Matthew 24:21.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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