Sometimes, you just gotta laugh...

Answers In Genesis (AIG) has just sent out its monthly newsletter, packed with propaganda. I just received a copy. In this issue, they try to tackle the difficult dilemma of explaining how a just and loving God could have allowed a disaster like Hurricane Katrina. From a creationist perspective, of course.

Ken Ham quotes from Nancy Gibbs, a writer for Time magazine online. According to the online article being quoted, Nancy interviews many religious leaders as to God's reasoning behind such a disaster as Katrina. An ultraconservative rabbi says Katrina is punishment for U.S. support of the Israeli pullout in Gaza. Louis Farrakhan calls Katrina judgment for the Iraq war. The Christian Civic Group of Maine notes that the hurricane hit just as a gay-rights festival was about to get underway. The consensus, notes Gibbs, is that Katrina was punishment for sin. The lack of consensus is just which sin it precisely was.

Enter Ken Ham's explanation. He also agrees that such mass death is punishment for sin, but says that the confusion as to which sin responsible stems from a lack of understanding of Genesis 1 through 11. According to Ken, the sin responsible is the original sin of eating the fruit of the tree in the Garden of Eden - an act which brought death and destruction to everyone. It is this sin, rather than the others, which should be blamed for the death and destruction which Katrina eventually brought. To Ken, Katrina is just one of the many consequences of "The Fall." A cutesy cartoon near Ken's article illustrates the pointing of many fingers at each other over Katrina, then at God, then finally at ourselves for our sinful natures. "It's our fault," the caption reads.

What's interesting is that normally, conservative Christians hate any "blame the victim" mentality. Yet here it is, spoken as though they were siding with the caracaturization of the liberals they purportedly despise. Ken doesn't touch on the irrationality of children being held responsible for the crimes of parents, to say nothing of grandparents or ancient ancestors. He doesn't point out that if humans were created by God, and Satan was created by God, that God is ultimately responsible for evil anyway. Blaming Satan doesn't work. Blaming Adam doesn't work. Both these puppets have their strings pulled by someone higher up, according to the Bible. "It is an occasion for atheists to remind believers of the flaws in the case for a benevolent God," Ken quotes from Gibbs' article. He lampoons this point, but comes up with exactly zero evidence against it.

So, we have to laugh. Not because it's funny. In fact, the fundamentalist outlook is rather glum. No, we laugh because Ken passes the buck, not realizing that he's given away his last dollar. He highlights the fallacy of creationism in flourescent yellow, and calls it an argument against evolution.

Perhaps the real proof of the lack of God's existence should be that no just God would let someone as ridiculous as Ken Ham into a position of leadership.

Eric