Wednesday, May 05, 2010

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...but only God can make a slick.

According to the “Green” blog in the New York Times, Texas governor Rick Perry says that the oil-rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was “an act of God.”

Indeed, hm.

Why would God do that? This isn’t like the Great Flood, cleaning things up and sorting things out. In fact, quite the opposite: it’s making a horrible mess of things. Only a relatively few people will suffer greatly. Louisiana fishermen and oil workers are out of work; did God do it to test the mettle of the fishermen, maybe?

Some animal species in the area will be seriously affected, so perhaps God did it to punish those animals. But, again, it’s only a portion of their population, those in the area, that are affected. The ones down by the Yucatan, or over by Florida will manage. And the ones by Texas, since Reverend Governor Perry prophesies that there will be “no impact on the Texas coast.”

And has God considered the long-term consequences of this? We presume so, omnipotent being, and all. But if we can’t contain this, the oil could spread and contaminate a large area of sea for a very long time. If God did it, will God act to stop it before it goes too far? Or is God now off causing a disaster in the neighbourhood of Antares now, and not paying attention to us at the moment?

The part I find the most fascinating about this is that Governor Perry is so hung up on not blaming BP that he’s willing to put it out there and blame God.

But maybe that makes sense: I guess God has the chops to take it, eh?

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