All I have is an opinion, take it for what it's worth.
The word "punishing" when related to God is often misused or misunderstood. I believe a more accurate term is "consequences", (a concept all but lost in this generation).
God gives us all free will, that's what separates us from, and elevates us above, the rest of His creation. And if it turns out that our choices were poor or selfish ones that caused great harm to others or offended God, we then have the choice to continue on in that spirit or change, (repent). So ultimately the bed we sleep in is the one we made, our actions bringing either blessings or the consequences attached to them. (In this regard I am not referring to things that happen to us that we have little or no control over anyway, such as injury, illness or death). I am talking about things we choose to do and the grim consequences we willingly accept in spite of being warned by our religious leaders.
I believe that there is some repercussion, good or bad, for every action we take or fail to take. And there are both natural and Divine consequences for sin. For example, a natural consequence of abortion would be the Social Security crisis we are about to be hit with. As we aborted away roughly one-third of our future workers and taxpayers, we created a huge problem for the upcoming generation to bear as they will have to shoulder the burgeoning Social Security crisis created by tens of millions of retiring 'baby boomers'. We'll have more old than young. (You have to wonder if the culture of death will try to solve this catastrophe by doing away with some of the more fragile and sick of these "useless eaters").
We've aborted away our future, and the only answer our Politicians have given us so far is to throw open our southern borders so that millions upon millions of aliens, legal and illegal, can come pouring into our nation to work and take up some of the slack. (But this stupidity has its own dire consequences, which I'm not even going to get into here).
This is why I agree with Falwell and Robertson when they associate our national behavior with our national fate. There are natural and Divine consequences to behaviors called 'sin' in the Scripture. And as the Bible states, one of these consequences for evil is that God will eventually turn his eyes away from those that displease Him, (see bottom), which would leave us unprotected from our enemies like the Islamofacists.
But I firmly believe that a merciful and patient God is still very much in the picture for America, because we have been protected from further terrorist attacks on our homeland. It's difficult to believe that this is all due to vigilence and 'luck'. So perhaps while the horrific events of 9-11 were allowed by God to serve His purposes, they also served to wake us all up before it became too late altogether. Whereas before we rested on our laurels and did little while they plotted our destruction, now we're fighting them and chasing them all over the planet, and they're running like cockroaches.
"I believe a more accurate term is "consequences", (a concept all but lost in this generation)."
the concept isn't lost but our fast paced professionalism (very Nazi-like) has caused us to give up leisure time, thereby causing us to refrain from thinking about them and developing a spiritual sensitivity.
"And as the Bible states, one of these consequences for evil is that God will eventually turn his eyes away from those that displease Him, (see bottom), which would leave us unprotected from our enemies like the Islamofacists."
The enemy is ourselves. The fact that others do evil when we do good is related to our lack of awareness. It takes an extra effort to discover the common humanity and to restore it. Keep in mind that Christ did not come to the Isrealites to help destroy the Romans, he came to help us find the god in all of us: "Forgive them father for they know not what they do". Is this simple lesson forgotten? Don't bother with the list of grievances, we need ESSENTIAL generalizations, not ACCIDENTAL generalizations.
"now we're fighting them and chasing them all over the planet, and they're running like cockroaches."
This sounds familiar, give me a minute to consult history. Oh yes here it is: This phrase was used (almost word for word, switch "the planet" with "our great nation") by the Hutu genocidal psychopaths of the Radio Milles Collines in July 1994 directly before their militia and brainwashed townsfolk exterminated (pardon the pun) 800,000 Tutsi men, women, and children from the face of Rwanda. The Tutsis were called "cockroaches" and most were not muslims. I'm a bit confused, did you take that line from that particular source?
Well...I'm not jumping to any conclusions, I just don't do that. But you have alot of explaining to do sir..
Oh I almost forgot. Both the Hutus and the Tutsis were Roman Catholics. Reach deep down into your soul and try to understand what this implies.