It's About Time. . .

...the apologists for our dismal response to Katrina stopped quoting scripture in a snarky and self-righteous manner. While it's a rare occurrence to see a public dispute among your two G&S contributors, I also think it's important to remember what is fundamentally going on right now. Thousands could be dead and hundreds of thousands left homeless. I don't care WHAT set of circumstances, poor planning, or bureaucratic incompetence got us INTO this mess - but it is a moral imperative that we do whatever possible to fix it - NOW.

Katrina and her fallout all occurred within the last five days. The time has not yet come to blame houses built on sand, or poor people dependent on welfare, or municipal government for not being able to combat the effects of 30-foot storm surges in a town already below sea level.

I, your faithful West Coast correspondent for G&S, do not consider myself a Christian - indeed, I've been indoctrinated by the school of Secular Humanism for some time now. However, I was provided in high school with the Catholic Theologian's Tool Kit (again, no snarky comments, please), and feel quite strongly that if we're going to be quoting scripture at all here, there's only one passage that need be considered less than one week after this horrific catastrophe.

From Matthew 25:

³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

⁴¹"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

⁴⁴"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

⁴⁵"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

Your resident Secular Humanist, signing off.