find me a religion and i'll find you idiots who misuse it.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satell...d=1126059637096


Is Katrina divine retribution?
By MATTHEW WAGNER


For the faithful, Katrina, like any other natural disaster, is a clear manifestation of divine intervention. But while most believers do not presume to understand God's ways, others are more sure of themselves.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the leading spiritual mentor of Sephardi Jewry, told an audience in Jerusalem Tuesday that Katrina was US President George Bush's punishment for supporting the pullout from Gaza and northern Samaria.

"He [Bush] brought about the expulsion [from Gaza], now he has his own expulsion," said Yosef.

"There was a tsunami and there were horrible natural disasters. It's all a result of too little Torah study. Where there is Torah, the world has sustenance.

"Over there [Louisiana] is where black people live. Do blacks learn Torah?" asked Yosef rhetorically. "'All right,' said God, 'let's bring a tsunami and drown them.' Hundreds of thousands are homeless, tens of thousands are dead. All that because there is no God there."

Rabbi Yosef's comments echoed a speech given last week by Rabbi David Batzri, kabbalist and head of Yeshivat Shalom, who also said Hurricane Katrina was divine retribution for the US's support of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.

However, not only Yosef and Batzri ventured to explain God's workings in the world. The faithful of the two other monotheistic religions – Christianity and Islam – offered their interpretation of the tremendous human suffering caused by Katrina as well.

Repent America, an evangelical Christian organization, claimed God brought Katrina to New Orleans to prevent Southern Decadence, an annual event during which thousands of homosexuals openly celebrate their sexuality.

Repent America's director, Michael Marcavage, suggested that "this act of God destroyed a wicked city. New Orleans was a city that opened its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same. We must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long."

In contrast, the Iraqi faction of al-Qaida headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi praised the coming of Katrina for being "the start of the collapse" of the US, according to the Kuwaiti paper al-Bawaba.

"Congratulations to the Islamic nation, to our sheikh Osama bin Laden and to sheikh Ayman Zawahiri [bin Laden's deputy] for the destruction of America, which is at the forefront of evil. It is the start of its collapse." According to them, Katrina was sent by God to torment the American empire.

Asked if Rabbi Yosef understands the workings of God, MK Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) said that what his rabbi says is holy.

"It is beyond my ability to understand," he said. "But the rabbi is a Torah giant. His intention is to rebuke people. We are supposed to learn a lesson from what happens in this world."