The hatred never stops...
I should have seen it coming. Why does it surprise me that, once again, the religious right has shown itself to be full of hate and anger? Michael Marcavage, director of the extremist Repent America, has posted on his website that Hurricane Katrina's destruction in New Orleans is an act of God in punishment of homosexuality and licentious behavior.
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city. From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence,' New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. From the devastation may a city full of righteousness emerge,"
Such vitriolic rhetoric is the worst of the cultural-neo-Christianity that has swept America (and much of the world) in recent years. It deeply saddens me to think that there are many people who hear such words as the authentic voice of Christianity. From Pat Robertson and his call for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Jerry Falwell and his equating of 9/11 with God's judgment upon a wicked nation, I find myself at times almost reluctant to call myself a Christian for fear that people will think that I am a member of the same religion as people such as these. It is only my deepseated conviction that the Jesus I worship is one who welcomes all with arms wide open that keeps me from walking away. And it is only my unwillingness to surrender the Gospel to such hate-mongerers that keeps me coming back for more.
Marcavage is as good a reminder as any that Shakespeare's Antonio speaks truthfully:
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose,
An evil soul producing holy witness,
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O what a goodly outside falsehood hath!
The Merchant of Venice - Act I, Scene iii.