Thunderstorms are YOUR FAULT.

A double lesson.   A history recap that dwells in both theology and in the world's weather patterns (because they're related, don't ya know?)!

Here we go:

In zones of Asia Minor, where earthquakes are frequent and where old pagan temples would regularly come crashing down, Christians during that time would warn people that the temples were falling because God was mad and that they should convert now before it was "too late".

In Krakatoa in the later part of the 1800s, Muslims claimed that a horrible volcanic explosion was the will of God, warning people to join Islam before it was "too late".  Islamic numbers rose immediately.

The archbishop of Canterbury and others claimed that the Asian tsunami in 2005 was God sending yet another violent message.

An Israeli rabbi claimed that the flooding of New Orleans in 2006 was God's way of punishing Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.

And, of course, just a short while ago, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell both agreed that God allowed America to be attacked on September 11th as punishment to all of us Americans for tolerating homosexuals.

So... you know.  That's kind of where our world is at.   You can keep quiet and tiptoe and be careful not to disturb Uncle RightWing if you like.  Me?  I'm gonna speak my mind because these wackos have gone far enough.

Reading Hitchens makes me smarter.   And kind of angrier, too.