Some evacuees see religious message in Katrina - distrust of white people dispelled

HOUSTON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - In the last week, Joseph Brant lost his apartment, walked by scores of dead in the streets, traversed pools of toxic water and endured an arduous journey to escape the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in his hometown New Orleans.

On Sunday, he was praising the Lord, saying the ordeal was a test that ended up dispelling his lifelong distrust of white people and setting his life on a new course. He said he hitched a ride on Friday in a van driven by a group of white folks.

"Before this whole thing I had a complex about white people; this thing changed me forever," said Brant, 36, a truck driver who, like many of the refugees receiving public assistance in Houston, Texas, is black.

"It was a spiritual experience for me, man," he said of the aftermath of a catastrophe al Qaeda-linked Web sites called evidence of the "wrath of God" striking an arrogant America.

Brant was one of many refugees across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi who gave thought to religion on Sunday, almost a week after the floods changed their lives, perhaps forever.

At the Astrodome in Houston, where 16,000 refugees received food and shelter, Rose McNeely took the floods as a sign from God to move away from New Orleans, where she said her two grown children had been killed in past years in gunfights.

"I lost everything I had in New Orleans," she said. "He brought me here because he knows."

Nearby, others looked for a different kind of higher ground and smoked marijuana in the shade outside the Astrodome.

Inside, Gerald Greenwood, 55, had collected a free Bible but sat watching a science fiction television program above the stands in an enclosed stadium once home to Houston's baseball and football teams. "This is the work of Satan right here," he said of the floods.

The Bible was one of the few books many of the refugees had among their possessions. Several Jehovah's Witnesses walked around thousands of cots to offer their services.

The Salvation Army conducted an outside religious service that included songs such as "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

"Natural disaster is caused by the sin in the world," said Maj. John Jones, the group's area commander. "The acts of God are what happens afterwards ... all the good that happens."

Others took a different view, including Tim Washington, 42, who on Saturday waited at the New Orleans' Superdome to be evacuated. "God made all this happen for a reason. This city has been going to hell in a handbasket spiritually," he said.

"If we can spend billions of dollars chasing after (Osama) bin Laden, can't we get guns and drugs off the street?", he asked. Washington said he stole a boat last Monday and he and a friend, using wooden fence posts as oars, delivered about 200 people to shelter.

The Salvation Army's Jones was one of many trying to comfort victims in Sunday services across several states.

At St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Baton Rouge, several hundred local parishioners and storm survivors attended Sunday services. "I wish we could take your broken hearts and give you ours," Rev. Donald Blanchard told the gathering.

At St. Francis Xavier Church, a black Catholic Church in Baton Rouge, the mood was a mix of frustration, bitterness and profound joy. As evacuees stood one by one to introduce themselves, parishioners clapped and cried, celebrating their guests' good fortune in simply being alive.

"For those who were alone in the water, alone on the roof, you might ask 'What did we do to deserve this?'" the Rev. Lowell Case said. "A lot of us think being black may have had something to do with it, being poor and black in New Orleans."

Churches in many states have taken in evacuees and organized aid for people who in many cases had lost everything. But at least some bristled at the role of religion in helping the afflicted.

"We're getting reports of how some religion-based 'aid' groups are trying to fly evangelists into the stricken areas and how U.S. Army chaplains are carrying bibles -- not food or water -- to 'comfort' people," Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheist, said in a statement.

"People need material aid, medical care and economic support -- not prayers and preaching." (Additional reporting by Jim Loney and Michael Peltier in Baton Rouge and Mark Egan in New Orleans)

Karen Warren / Chronicle David Brown, 68, an evacuee from Louisiana, takes a breather on his new bed in his new two bedroom apartment that he will share with his longtime friend and caregiver, Victoria Lott, at Primrose at CasaBella, a senior assisted living facility.

Karen Warren / Chronicle Lucille Mossop, 69, rescued from Louisiana several days ago and placed in the Astrodome, hugs Michael Cutler, a family physician from Utah and volunteer at the Astrodome, after Mossop was given the opportunity to be placed at the Primrose at CasaBella senior living facility.

Steve Campbell / Chronicle Volunteer Bob Kontor helps a child that he only knows as Terrill, choose a crayon as they color in the children's area of Reliant Center.

Greta Van Van Susteren's view of Houston:

***....There are a few things I would like to say about Houston/Texas, etc. I have been here in Houston for many days and have a very small world — meaning that I only know what is going on in the area immediately around me (Houston.) I am "wall-to-wall" Houston relief efforts. I know that my colleagues in New Orleans, Mississippi, etc., are seeing things that I am not. From time to time I hear their reports and the reports are bleak (to put it lightly.) Here in Houston I almost feel like I am in a magical city — there is an incredible outpouring of help. You would be inspired by the help to the people who need it so much. I have spoken to literally hundreds of evacuees and each — 100 percent of those I have spoken to — are in awe of what Texas has done. Each expresses enormous gratitude to the people of Texas.

I have been to the three major shelters in Houston — each is unbelievable and each, while housing thousands, was set up overnight. People don't wait in lines for services like medicine and food — instead they get provided for quickly and with dignity. Every place you turn around, there is help. The shelters and volunteers are efficient and treat people with great dignity.

I went to the newest shelter last night — the Houston City Convention Center and I was very impressed. They have air mattresses (not just cots), thicker air mattresses for older people so did not have a hard time in and out of bed, showers, game rooms for the kids, food looked great, a computer room, library, movie theatre size screen for movies, clothes, medical care, etc.... and all done within hours of making the decision to do it! I watched a crowd of kids under two feet tall playing the game "duck, duck, goose" with volunteers. The kids were all having fun — squealing with laughter. The kids are kept busy by volunteers so that the parents can address the obviously more serious and distressing matters — missing family members, no homes and no money.

You would not believe what the city of Houston (and Texas) accomplished in less than 48 hours! I really have never seen anything like this! The George R. Brown Convention Center is so clean you can eat off the floor and the service appears to be top notch. I watched carefully the service to make sure I got it right and I asked people staying there. You can get medical care and even dental care right on the premises... all set up in less than 48 hours! I met private citizens — all pitching in. I was told corporations were also pitching in — one local company in Houston came in and built 80 showers in the Convention Center within hours of the Friday morning decision that they needed to open still another shelter. The help to fellow Americans here in Texas is not only extraordinary — but the fact that it is so well coordinated with no time is mind-boggling.

I have been stopped by many local Houstonians thanking me for the nice things I have been saying on the air about Texas and Houston. I have told each of them, "Don't thank me, I am only saying what I see." And, yes, I am seeing a much different picture than the devastation seen by my colleagues in other states.

Let me make one thing plain — yes, things are going well in Houston but the evacuees have been through hell and that hell will continue. No matter how great the support is here in Houston, it does not erase the immense loss. In time, there will also be too much pressure on this area alone. We can't expect Texas to do this alone and they can't. They need other people and places to help. They need contributions so please give. I do know that many other states and citizens are helping a great deal — this help is great — but I suspect more help will be needed. I know it will be much appreciated. This is a BIG job!
....***

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168491,00.html

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