THE "PURGING" OF NEW ORLEANS

The so-called "Christian" right's solution to sin: kill all the sinners.

“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion -- it's free of all of those things now," Shanks says. "God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there -- and now we're going to start over again."

The New Orleans pastor is adamant. Christians, he says, need to confront sin. "It's time for us to stand up against wickedness so that God won't have to deal with that wickedness," he says.

Believers, he says, are God's "authorized representatives on the face of the Earth" and should say they "don't want unrighteous men in office," for example. In addition, he says Christians should not hesitate to voice their opinions about such things as abortion, prayer, and homosexual marriage. "We don't want a Supreme Court that is going to say it's all right to kill little boys and girls, ... it's all right to take prayer out of schools, and it's all right to legalize sodomy, opening the door for same-sex marriage and all of that.”

Shanks heeded warnings to evacuate New Orleans, and is currently staying with friends in the Jackson, Mississippi, area.

I'm sure Shanks and Kelly are comforted by the fact that only gays, Supreme Court justices, Mardi Gras celebraters, heathens, witches and those who've had abortions will be counted as casualties of Katrina in New Orleans. But I'm just a mite confused by the scenes I've seen on TV of poor people with lots of children (abortions cost money, and not many gays give birth) expressing their Christian faith or crying out to God for help. It seems as if the wrath of the storm and its aftermath have disproportionately affected people of color and those living in poverty. They're not the picture of Mardi Gras Krewes (who are in the main the wealthiest and most socially connected citizens of New Orleans, nearly all who evacuated before Katrina struck).

And I'm sure the people left stranded in New Orleans are comforted by the "Christian" compassion being shown to them by the evangelical leaders of their city.

What God do these leaders worship? Did they ever read the New Testament? Are they completely unacquainted with the nature and teachings of the Christ they purport to follow? They sound like nothing so much as goats, and the destruction they delight in seeing visited upon others I fear will rebound to them.