"Destruction of New Orleans"

This is to address the contention by certain elements that New Orleans was destroyed because of sin. It is a frame, but rather than critiquing a centrist message, I want to take this one apart because it's absurd.

First, this is intended to recall the God of the Old Testament. Christians are a New Testament people. This is important because the OT is about the faithfuls' relationship to land, and the NT is about relationship to God.

Second, even in the Old Testament, God did not destroy cities that housed faithful (Sodom) or repentant (Ninevah) people. God would have saved Sodom if anyone other than Lot could be found who was faithful, surely there were more than 10 righteous people in New Orleans.

Third, if every life is of equal value in the eyes of God, then we have to wonder at the capriciousness of killing thousands to save a couple hundred a year.

Centuries of common and religious thought have been dedicated to understanding why bad things happen to good people, and that's an area I'm not willing to weigh in on. But don't say God did this.