Posted on 09/06/2005 12:17:01 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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 WAGES OF SIN
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.
Some people walked out of the church in tears mid-service.
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)
And now the mayor of New Orleans is sending his policemen and their families on paid vacations to Las Vegas.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1478273/posts#39
Something is wrong when a supposed preacher talks like this! This is not biblically sound.
Many black preachers are little more than Democrat party shills.
Yeah. You are right. I'm sure this 36 year old American man has had nothing but negative experiences with white people in this country. I am sure this truck driver formed his opinion based solely on personal experience and not at all on the race baiting of almost every single person held up as a "leader" in the black community. How silly of me.
Yes how silly of you. Glad you realise that.
Enlighten me a little then. Do you believe that this 36 year old truck driver has developed his mistrust of white people based solely on his personal experiences?
Not soley but personal experiences play a large role. It's silly just to blame Jesse Jackson for what a person thinks about white people when the fact is that there are black people who encounter white racists and that impacts their life. Just like there are white people who have bad experiences with black people and they have views based on that but it's not because of some white racist telling them so. There is still a lot of discrimination against black people but I don't expect anyone white to know that just because they're not white and don't experience it first hand. Just like there is black racism against white folks and that I have witnessed right before my eyes.
You'd think so but I'm willing to bet it won't happen. It's too ingrained.
Case in point would be Marion Barry in DC, convicted felon and ex-mayor that was reelected by his constituency, this time to a post on the council.
Never quite figured out how that happened since felons weren't supposed to be able to run but I guess they made a "special" execption in his case.
From Lifesite.net
Michael Brown, creator of the immensely popular SpiritDaily.com website - popularly known as the Catholic DrudgeReport, has said that Katrina was "definitely" a purification for New Orleans. Brown points out that the name Katrina itself means "pure". And that, Brown told LifeSiteNews.com, is not a coincidence. "I don't believe in coincidences," said Brown, adding that God has everything in His control and "I think that everything is interwoven."
Fair enough. I agree with a lot of what you said.
By the way, thanks for the enlightenment.
Thank you for the information.
Similar summer climate?!? You've been stuck in Sacto too long, honey. Plus I don't know where someone from Louisiana is gonna come up with over a quarter million dollars for a 50 year old 1200 sq.ft shack on a postage stamp yard in Del Paso Heights or Ghettoview...uhhh...I mean Meadowview. I left Sacramento 2 years ago, and it is still the best thing I've ever done to improve every aspect of life for me and my family. Besides, Sacto doesn't need any more Democrat voters.
I wonder if this is the guy who said, "God bless George Bush" on CNN and was never heard from again?
Not ruddy likely! They might be bringing Bibles along WITH the food and water, though. That would certainly chaff the atheists.;o)
That guy was taken away immediately by helicopter and he now has a new name and an entirely new life.
Oh, good...then he'll be safe.
LOL
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