Disaster dominionists

Joel Rosenberg, the author of several New York Times best-selling novels and three non-fiction books, including his latest titled Implosion: Can America Recover from Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges in Time?, posted a June 27 story on his blog headlined, "EPIC FIRES IN COLORADO: Is God using natural disasters to get our attention?"

Rosenberg cited a section from Implosion, in which he wrote: "Natural disasters continue unfolding one after another here at home and around the world as they always have. But have you stopped to notice that so many recently are described as `historic' and `unprecedented?' Eight of the ten most expensive hurricanes in American history have happened since 9/11. The worst was Hurricane Katrina, which nearly wiped out an American city and ended up costing more than $100 billion. Hurricane Irene made 2011 the worst year in American history for natural disasters, with ten separate catastrophes costing $1 billion or more. In 2011, America experienced the worst outbreak of tornadoes in nearly half a century. In 2011, Texas suffered the worst fires in the history of the state, amid the worst drought in Texas history. In 2011, Virginia-and much of the East Coast-experienced its biggest earthquake since 1875.

"The fact is that throughout the Bible and throughout history God has used natural disasters to shake families, cities, regions and entire nations. Why? To get the people's attention. To warn people to stop drifting and/or rebelling from God and repent. To urge people to let go of anything or anyone else they are holding onto for peace and security and hope in this world and instead turn their hearts wholly and completely to faith in Jesus Christ."

While Rosenberg counseled prayers for the victims, he urged "all Americans to realize how desperately we need to turn our hearts to Christ, how desperately we need a massive, game-changing, transformative spiritual revival, a Third Great Awakening."

In a post dated June 30, and headlined "VIOLENT LAND HURRICANE HITS EAST COAST: `Catastrophic' power loss for 3 million+ may not be restored for days," Rosenberg revisited the God/disasters theme. While he claims to believe that the hurricane is not "judgment from God," he states that "God is using natural disasters, financial troubles, and other means to shake us. He is trying to get our attention, to cause us to turn our eyes to Him as the source of all of our power, hope and security."

Over the years, Pat Robertson, characterized last year by The Washington Post's Elizabeth Tenety as a "natural disaster interpreter extraordinaire," has consistently exploited disasters to put the fear of God into the faithful.

Last August, Robertson told his viewers that the earthquake that struck the Washington D.C. region "means that we're closer to the coming of the Lord." On a subsequent broadcast, Robertson suggested that the damage to the Washington Monument was possibly a "sign" from God: "It seems to me the Washington Monument is a symbol of America's power. It has been the symbol of our great nation. We look at the symbol and we say `this is one nation under God.' Now there's a crack in it... Is that sign from the Lord? ... You judge. It seems to me symbolic."

As Tenety reported, "After the 2010 Haiti earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people," Robertson said that, `Haitians had made a `pact to the devil' and were being `cursed' through the earthquake. He suggested that Hurricane Katrina was the result of legal abortion, according to Time Magazine. ... Robertson's religious worldview sees God as a being that can withdraw his protection from the United States based on the country's morality."

While R. Loren Sandford, the founder and senior pastor of the Denver-based New Song Church and Ministries, is "painfully familiar with our transgressions both as a city and as the church in this city," he doesn't "believe these fires result from the collective sins of Colorado, our lack of unity, our 8 percent church attendance ... or any other genuine cause of the Lord's displeasure": "I think rather that it is part of something I (and others) have long prophesied for the earth ... that we would see an increase in natural disasters around the world because the earth can no longer bear up under the accumulated sin of mankind and is finally reacting."

Political dimension of Colorado's forest fires

Paul Harvey, who runs the blog Religion in American History and teaches history at the University of Colorado, recently pointed out at Religion Dispatches that "The fire struck especially hard in the geographic quadrant of the city that hosts many of the best-known religious activist organizations, and has attracted a large population of religious conservatives who see in Colorado Springs a center for the religious and political values they seek to espouse. Seven of the homes lost belonged to those who worked for one of the oldest of these organizations, The Navigators-including the current director of the organization."

Perhaps, Harvey wrote in a story titled "Unnatural Disaster: When Conservative Theology & The Free Market Meet Wildfires," the Colorado forest fires are not so much a warning sign from God but rather the culmination of conservative fundamentalist Christians believing they have dominion over the earth, and libertarians who oppose any government regulation and feel they can build anywhere at anytime.

Harvey pointed out that while the Colorado Springs fire is "certainly [a] natural disaster to a degree, [it is] also [a] man-made disaster, like the destruction leveled in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It's just that our religious platitudes of God's wrath, and God's reassurance, make it difficult to understand the indispensable human contribution to these catastrophes."

One of the major problems according to Harvey, is that "fire mitigation and maintenance, and reasonable regulation of development in natural fire zones ... meets resistance from a religious ethic of dominion over the earth that colludes with the libertarian free market enthusiasms of developers who skillfully sell to buyers seeking escape from the Gomorrah of urban America."

According to Harvey, "Nowhere is that more true than in Colorado Springs, which marries an activist grassroots religious conservatism, faith in (and reliance on) the military-industrial complex, and a historic western libertarian hatred of `big government' - combined with an economic reliance on big government.

"In a city sometimes referred to as the `Protestant Vatican for its profusion of religiously conservative activist groups, unregulated housing developments into Wildland-Urban Interface zones have proliferated over the last generation, such that foothills and obvious fire zones boast some of the region's most geographically attractive housing."

Harvey pointed out that "Regulations on developers have historically been light, and homeowners' associations ... have not always gotten on board with the very preventative mitigation measures which are essential to saving houses." In addition, "there has been no regional or systemic state authority to assess risks in particular areas, meaning that housing expansion in fire zones, both locally and throughout the West, have garnered a disproportionate share of private and governmentally subsidized resources over (at least) the last two generations."

While Harvey acknowledged "the personal tragedies of those who have lost homes and businesses" and the "natural factors involved," he maintained that "a combination of western libertarianism, historically weak governmental structures, and religiously-based desire to possess even the earth that is bound to burn (and to dispute the reality of global warming's contribution to making fire zones much larger and more volatile than previously) set the stage for the disaster we have just experienced."