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Some evacuees see religious message in Katrina - distrust of white people dispelled - new life
Reuters AlertNet, UK ^ | September 4, 2005 | Adam Tanner

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)


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cary; faith; hurricane; katrina; racism
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Yes you are right.


121 posted on 09/06/2005 12:28:33 PM PDT by cyborg (I'm having the best day ever.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

This is something good that can come from this chaos. These poor black people who have been inculcated with a 'anti white people' attitude from birth are getting the chance to see that there are many white people who do want the best for them. This could be a life changing event for these people, and maybe it might even make them question the bilge spouted by the race hustlers in the future.


122 posted on 09/06/2005 12:48:55 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: SuziQ; Cincinatus' Wife

Lots of future republicans!


123 posted on 09/06/2005 12:54:13 PM PDT by cyborg (I'm having the best day ever.)
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To: mariabush
I have not once seen the American Atheist group on the list of people that are setting up shelters and giving out other services to these poor people.

And you won't see it in the future, either. They're only willing to sit on the sidelines and complain that someone somewhere might hear something about Jesus.

124 posted on 09/06/2005 12:59:16 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: cyborg

Yeeeeesssssssssssssssss!


125 posted on 09/06/2005 1:06:28 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: SuziQ

It is a shining silver lining.


126 posted on 09/06/2005 1:07:13 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: SuziQ
This is something good that can come from this chaos. These poor black people who have been inculcated with a 'anti white people' attitude from birth are getting the chance to see that there are many white people who do want the best for them. This could be a life changing event for these people, and maybe it might even make them question the bilge spouted by the race hustlers in the future.

hmmm...maybe this is "the answer".

No, I don't mean flood all the inner cities but perhaps find a way to actually physically separate these poor black people from the race hustlers and environment that has enslaved them for decades.

Wonder how that could be accomplished?

127 posted on 09/06/2005 2:18:48 PM PDT by evad ( PC KILLS--NOLA is just the latest example)
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To: EricT.

I don't live in Sacto. Just went to college there.


128 posted on 09/06/2005 2:27:01 PM PDT by GVnana
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To: nicmarlo

Jesse Jackass will not like this.


129 posted on 09/06/2005 2:59:12 PM PDT by sweetliberty (Stupidity should make you sterile.)
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To: sweetliberty

No he won't; he believes in divide and divide. : )


130 posted on 09/06/2005 3:02:36 PM PDT by nicmarlo
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To: WKB

most excellent , LMAO.
i never could figure out the big whoop that these people get at pointing out double posts and or grammar errors.
(the last one i am flagrantly guily of every time i post)
but just dang. somehow someway most figure out what i am trying to say.


131 posted on 09/06/2005 5:05:50 PM PDT by 537cant be wrong (vampires stole my lunch money but left me with my bus pass. damn!)
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To: bluefish; Dog Gone
I must say though that I'm a little concerned about the hype with respect to how great Texas is for these folks. Their experience isn't normal circumstances. The glee with regards to Texas' "hospitality" is setting expectations. The hurricane victims want to move there b/c they are getting taken care of. I'm afraid that won't / can't be a permanent thing. The ability to rely on others (government) to meet your basic needs is not a good basis for people's desire to move there.

DG tell your fellow Californian about Texas hospitality.

132 posted on 09/06/2005 5:16:34 PM PDT by HoustonCurmudgeon (I'm a Conservative but will not support evil just because it's "the law.")
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To: bluefish; HoustonCurmudgeon
bluefish, Texas hospitality is the real deal. It's a big state with people with big hearts. The outpouring of support is more than at the corporate level. I've already had the Boy Scouts and a church group at my door collecting food.

And it's not just a temporary thing. Already church groups are signing up to be volunteers weeks in advance at the shelters.

I guess on the flip side, we also expect people to show some can-do spirit, too. Texas is about individuality and making things happen for yourself and others, so we'll encourage the evacuees to find jobs, get out of the shelters and get on with their lives.

And helping them do that is the biggest hand we can give them.

It's quite a bit different here than in California, and having spent about half of my life in each place, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about.

133 posted on 09/06/2005 5:29:02 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: Dog Gone
You know DG every time I get down I read something you write about being a Texan, makes me proud to have you as a neighbor.
134 posted on 09/06/2005 5:32:23 PM PDT by HoustonCurmudgeon (I'm a Conservative but will not support evil just because it's "the law.")
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To: HoustonCurmudgeon

Well, thanks, neighbor. It's good to be here.


135 posted on 09/06/2005 5:54:00 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: 537cant be wrong
I rest my case with this

Some evacuees see religious(racial) message in Katrina ^
Posted by WKB
On News/Activism ^ 09/05/2005 11:21:17 AM CDT ·
117 replies · 2,985+ views

Some evacuees see religious message in Katrina - distrust of white people dispelled - new life
Posted by Cincinatus' Wife
On News/Activism 09/06/2005 12:17:01 AM PDT
· 134 replies · 2,904+ views
136 posted on 09/06/2005 6:37:36 PM PDT by WKB (A closed mind is a good thing to lose.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Depend on a professional atheist to say something like this. To show contempt for those who do not share his infidelity.


137 posted on 09/06/2005 10:07:12 PM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: bluefish

There are some who are planning to stay. Certainly thousands can't continue to live in the shelters.


138 posted on 09/06/2005 10:08:39 PM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
""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. "

Well I, for one, would like to thank Ms. Johnson for having the decency to not distribute the biography of the the most influential atheist in history, Mr. Josef Stalin.

139 posted on 09/06/2005 10:14:27 PM PDT by cookcounty (Army Vet, Army Dad.)
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To: Navy Patriot

Poor Ms. Johnson just doesn't get it. I hope she does understand someday and soon.


140 posted on 09/06/2005 10:27:45 PM PDT by skr
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