Eugene Volokh asks does God hate poor people? In response to the assertions of some Christians that hurricane Katrina was a judgement from God on New Orleans:
If this is so, then wouldn't it follow that God must really dislike poor people? After all, poor people generally bear the brunt of most natural disasters: It's harder for them to evacuate; they are less likely to have insurance; their assets are less likely to be diversified, so the economic damage is more likely to be severe for them; they are closer to the poverty line, so even small losses may harm them more than larger losses harm rich people; and so on. If you live in a poor country, you're much more likely to suffer from disasters than if you live in a rich country. If you're poor in any country, you're much more likely to suffer from disasters than if you live in a poor country.The same is in considerable measure true for wars, at least since World War II: Tragic as 9/11 was, the loss of life in America was far less than the loss of life in Rwanda, Uganda, Cambodia, and who knows how many other poor countries in recent decades. And it's true for AIDS and most other diseases: Rich gays in the U.S. are much more likely to survive AIDS than poor people -- gay or straight, promiscuous or monogamous but infected by nonmongamous spouses or in other ways -- in Africa or Asia.
So, which is it: Does God dislike poor people? Or might it be that disasters, wars, and diseases are actually not God's punishment for sin?
The general explanation is that some disasters are intended to punish, and some disasters are merely allowed to happen.
As a rather conservative Christian myself, it appears to me that most of the evil and terrible things that happen to people in the world are either the direct result of their own evil actions, or the direct result of the evil actions of others. Arguably, much of the suffering in New Orleans is due to poor/incompetent preparation by local officials who neglected their duties -- and some of that blame then rests with the voters who elected them.
However, the Bible certainly does teach that God punishes evil-doers, though not all bad events are punishment. From Jesus' teaching on two specific events in his day that killed a lot of people:
Luke 13:1-5Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Update:
A pseudonymous Reader at the VC makes a pithy observation:
This explanation of killing sinners would also make God into one heck of a liar. I have it on substantial authority that God promised not to kill any more sinners with flood waters. . .
Eugene neglects to take into account that poverty is often caused by sin. At the personal level, poverty is usually caused by sluggardliness, disloyalty to employers, drunkenness, drugs, sex without marriage and other sins. At the government level, it is often caused by corruption, cronyism, and failure of duty.
Therefore, if God is going to punish the sinful, he will often also be punishing the poor because of correlation.
This is not to say that rich sinners aren't punished as well, but God uses other forms of punishment than natural disasters.
I agree so much with you. It's ridiculous to expect us to use our airborne brigades and other resources to help a bunch of slackers. Who cares if the first heavy lift helocopters could have been there in hours.
It's not like these are responsible people or that they pay taxes. As you say if I see someone like this dying and it's someone elses job to help them then the Christian thing to do is watch that person die and then criticize the other person.
Our purpose is to judge inferior people and explain why they deserved that they got. Especially if thinking that maybe we should have used the powers we had availible could be construed as criticism of our wordly leaders. After all George Bush was electd by god unlike those nasty losers in New Orleans. And I agree with you strongly that this is what people deserve if they vote Democrat.
I guess you and I have one criticism. It's become clear that FEMA did manage to prevent a number of volunteers and others to come in and help, but don't you think if they'd been more effective they could have blocked all help and we could have got rid of a 100,000 thousand welfare cheats and criminals?
I dion't blame this on the president, but the liberal values we've imposed on society. I'm so glad you're bringing these things up. You're a great man.
If there's one thing I've learned from being a (conflicted) Catholic, it's that the "poor shall inherit the Earth" - poverty opens the heart up to faith.
That's why priests (should) refrain from trying to incite political change or anything like that - they serve a different need.
But that doesn't mean the non-poor should just let the poor rot. They need to let go of some of their attachment to material things and help the poor - not just for the sake of the poor, but also for their own.
It's nonsense to equate poverty with sin. Crime, yes. Poverty, no. Just because people are poor doesn't mean they don't work. They live, as one who stayed said, "paycheck-to-paycheck".
Wow this thread has certainly brought out some of the best examples of conservative "Christian" scum. How dare you even claim to be believers in God and throw such hateful garbage around.
Shame on you.
Well, I'd say that all three people that responded to my post need to work on their reading comprehension. I was just making an abstract point in response to an abstract point. Anything you read in there about poor people especially deserving to suffer or that we should do nothing to help them is entirely in your heart, not mine.
You three are the ones who immediately jump from the premise that the poor bear some personal responsibility for their own poverty to the conclusion that we shouldn't bother to help them. That wasn't my conclusion, it was yours.
I don't have to believe that someone is a just a helpless and innocent victim of circumstances to make me want to help him. When they brought the woman to Jesus for committing adultery, he didn't try to explain away her sin. He didn't say, "This poor woman is just a product of her culture," or "This woman just didn't have the education to know what she was doing," or "How can we expect poor people to behave morally." No, what he did was save her life and then tell her "Go and sin no more."
There is nothing noble or Christian about ignoring the causes of poverty or in excusing the behaviors that lead to poverty. And all of the behaviors I listed unquestionably lead to poverty.
And this doesn't mean that I am equating poverty with sin. I was just observing that many forms of sin can cause poverty. I also observe that lightening is a cause of forest fires. Does that mean I'm equating lightening with forest fires? It hardly seemed necessary to mention that other foms of sin can lead to wealth: greed, stealing, exploiting other people's addictions.
hey, shit happens. you can't attach some deep meaning to every misfortune.
Good blog here.
God certainly doesnt hate the poor, but he suffers not the foolish.
Shall we support people who build thier homes on sinking sand ? ,
People who refuse to take adequate shelter from a growing storm ?
People who would vandalise and steal from thier neighbours in a time of crisis ?
I think not !
From an outside non-religous observer, I just want to draw your attention to the fact that your debate on the possible hand of one god almighty in the Katrina disater is about an old philosophical question known as the theodice problem. Here goes:
We also have the theodice problem, stated by David Hume: If the evil in the world is intended by God he is not good. If it violates his intentions he is not almighty. God can't be both almighty and good. There are many objections to this, but none that holds since God is ultimately responsible for the existence of evil. Besides, if only God can create he must have created evil. If somebody else (the devil) created evil, how can one know that God, and not Satan created the universe?