Leonardo"s Notebook by Mattheus Mei

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Fowler Fowls up? Hurricane a punishment from God on Republicans

Conservatives are all in arms over remarks that Don Fowler made about the Hurricane Gustav being retribution from God against the Republican Party.

My suggestion -- get over yourselves.

It is the pure Hubris of the Republican Party to even consider taking umbrage over such remarks. For one the party has marketed itself as the Party of Patriotism and God Almighty and last I checked patriotism in this country is not owned by anyone and the Bible doesn't list The Triune God's Political affiliation - though Jesus acts like a hippie with all that love and forgiveness stuff.

After all it was only three years ago that Pastor John Hagee said that Katrina was God's way of punishing New Orleans for welcoming the Gays (sound clip included!). AND Yours was a party that only two weeks ago was asked by Focus on the Family to pray for “abundant rain, torrential rain … flood-advisory rain... I’m talking about umbrella-ain’t-gonna-help-you rain … swamp-the-intersections rain.”

I ask, where was your outrage then?

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8 comments:

Raymond Owens said...

Come on, Hagee comments aren't taken seriously... but the Focus on the Family stuff... joking around about praying for rain... that's a stretch to say that equates to joking about a CAT-4 or possibly a CAT-5 hurricane being punishment from God on Republicans.

Mattheus Mei said...

No one takes Hagee seriously? Then why did John McCain bend over backwards to get his endorsement. Why has he sold hundreds of thousands if not millions of books, and the same amount of people watch and participate in his ministries if they don't take him seriously.

And Focus on the Family - that wasn't a joke, that guy retracted his statement because his words went beyond the evangelical circle. People don't take them seriously? People were going to sit out this election because Dr. Dobson refused to anoint John McCain. Again Hundreds of Thousands of people if not millions of people have bought Dobson's books, or those with the focus seal of approval along with listening to his radio programming.

So to some how try and dismiss those very public statements and appeals and focus on the private conversation of two men requires the same hubris evident in the Republican party about owning patriotism and God.

Anonymous said...

MM -

So, I take it you agree with Fowler then.

Mattheus Mei said...

No I find it distasteful, but finding it distasteful doesn't exclude my appreciation for the irony of the situation - an irony that has nothing to do for the poor folks of the Gulf Coast who are facing a great challenge as they move out of the path of the storm and to assess and rebuild once the storm has passed, but irony that such timing would appear to be providential and on the heels of a self righteous prayer requests and as an historical aside of the words of contempt following Katrina by Hagee. And even more than that - the outrage of those who fully support both the statements of Hagee and Focus on the Family, which is the majority of the Republican party as the purely libertarian wing has flown the coop.

Raymond Owens said...

I'd hardly say the pure libertarian wing of the party has flown the coop... frankly, McCain wasn't the first choice of the fiscal/moral conservative wing of the party. Heck, the buzz is that McCain was even considering Lieberman or others who learn more liberal than the "right" side of the party as his VP. Lieberman was Gore's 2000 VP pick for crying out loud. I'd hardly say the libertarian wing of the party has flown the coop. While McCain isn't a libertarian dream either, I would imagine he would certainly be closer to many libertarians than most of the other candidates (with the exception of Ron Paul) who were running in the primary. I'm enjoying this debate, by the way...

Mattheus Mei said...

I think we disagree on definition of Libertarian, the key element in my understanding being the "live and let live" motto of libertarianism. I say they've flown the coop because most social conservatives (i.e. against the gays) tend to feign interest in fiscal conservatism and small government (i.e. George W. Bush) and pick and choose who the motto applies to.

Mattheus Mei said...

It also appears that more of the libertarian elites (i.e the published thinkers and Burkeans) would rather have balance return on the social side of things and deal with a liberal tax and spend democrat to punish and purify the republicans than allow them to continue forward with policies that strip people of their civil liberties and spend us into the grave with a war that, even they admit, has made us weaker. The prime example of this being Andrew Sullivan. I happen to agree with him.

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