# Minister Says Hurricane Sandy was a Pro-Obama Message From God **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 1, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503 "2012-11-01T00:29:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/21 "2012-11-01T05:47:00Z")
Now, Lord, I can sorta understand being annoyed with us. But what the fuck did Haiti ever do to You? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/22 "2012-11-01T05:55:09Z")
> [@Attack of the Zoid](#): > > Darkness would be good to do again,… That’s just a sign that God loves drive-in movies. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/23 "2012-11-01T11:49:50Z")
I KNEW this was going to happen. Think about it: An act of ‘God’ brings together the number one barking boy for the GOP and President Obama together. Inspiring the whole nation to set aside their differences to put this broken nation together again. [This from the POV of the minister] If you think about all the nuance and coincidences involved, it is pretty staggering. Personally I don’t subscribe to the minister linked in the OP, but I can see how a devoutly religious person would. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/24 "2012-11-01T12:27:22Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Did you actually read the OP’s link? Has anybody commenting in the thread so far actually looked at it? I have the same question, though for different reasons than **njtt**. While pro-Obama, the quoted message was somewhat “bipartisan” and emphasized unity. One need not be a theist to feel spiritual inspiration in the reaction to a calamity. [QUOTE=Rev. Williams] We are sure to see Romney and Ryan passing sandbags instead of passing campaign literature … … we see Christie in a news interview and in an official Twitter message appearing thankful for the President’s leadership and a unified message from democratic and republican politicians urging evacuation and safety. [/QUOTE] I pit the Dopers in this thread who are so eager to demonstrate their atheism and “objectivity” that they compare Rev. William’s remarks with, e.g. the hateful remarks of Pat Robertson blaming Katrina on Roe-v-Wade. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/25 "2012-11-01T13:31:23Z")
I don’t think “God wants you to vote for Obama, although the other guys are nice people” is a bipartisan message. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/26 "2012-11-01T13:34:33Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Now, Lord, I can sorta understand being annoyed with us. But what the fuck did Haiti ever do to You? Haiti is the home of zombies, and God hates zombies. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/27 "2012-11-01T13:35:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I don’t think “God wants you to vote for Obama, although the other guys are nice people” is a bipartisan message. On this MB it is! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/28 "2012-11-01T14:40:18Z")
> [@Ennui](#): > > \*\* > > Hmm, two rival crazies making radically different interpretations of the same meteorological event. The only thing they agree on is that God is behind it. I would love to see the two crazies together in a cage match. Referee: God. That should settle who is right. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/29 "2012-11-01T14:49:06Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > Two things are universal - hydrogen, and stupidity. Clearly a cause and effect relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/30 "2012-11-01T14:51:57Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > You know God is really slipping here. > > Why use storms that can just be hand-waved away? We need some good old fashioned shit, like rivers turning to blood or frogs falling from the skies. > > Just in case you’re listening God, let’s not go too far. We don’t really need to get into the whole slaughtering of first born sons again, once was enough. Boils we could really do without too. Darkness would be good to do again, it gets the point across and no one has to get hurt. Just sayin’. Even stuff like that could be handwaved away. For instance, if the earth had opened up and swallowed Mitt Romney whole after his “you didn’t call it a terrorist attack” gotcha attempt blew up in his face like one of Wile E. Coyote’s gadgets from ACME, Democrats could cite it as divine displeasure with Mitt’s mendacity while Republicans hailed it as a miraculous rescue. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/31 "2012-11-01T15:00:11Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > It’s [here](http://www.chicagodefender.com/index.php/voices/15007-hurricane-sandy-may-be-god-s-way-of-endorsing-obama-s-leadership-and-renewing-the-american-spirit). Funny, I would have thought the opposite. I’m still waiting for the “Thanks to the benevolence of God, we were spared the worst,” because everyone knows hurricanes are the work of the Devil. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/32 "2012-11-01T16:58:41Z")
I don’t think most people read the link. The article doesn’t sound like the crazy ranting of a madman. The article starts with several examples of crazy from pat Robertson and then goes on to say how disasters often bring out the best in us. The article tries to find the silver lining. The only sentence that supports the title of the OP is the quoted language, which is one of several “maybes” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/33 "2012-11-01T17:08:06Z")
I’m trying to make sense of the theological implications of these claims. “God sent this hurricane to tell people his choice for President.” “If he’s God, why doesn’t he just make that person President?” “God would never do that. He wants us to have free will and make our own decisions.” “Then why did he send that hurricane?” ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/34 "2012-11-01T17:15:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I don’t think “God wants you to vote for Obama, although the other guys are nice people” is a bipartisan message. I don’t want to quibble semantics, but in order to make your point you needed to misquote the minister and replace his more ambiguous remark with a different utterance. (To save a round of rejoinder: one could reasonably guess that meaning from the utterance, but it would be a guess. With the partisan alignment reversed I don’t think you’d caricaturize the minister’s remarks.) Note that _any_ President _should_ be “a right man” for the job. Changing “a” to “the” changes the meaning slightly but “God wants you to vote for Obama” is an unnecessary leap. I do not believe in the existence of the Christian God, but I repeat my claim that those comparing this Minister’s utterance to Robertson’s have taken their anti-religion (or political correctness or both) to a zany extreme. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/35 "2012-11-01T18:16:37Z")
If the partisan alignment were reversed I’d probably have pitted the minister myself. I’m a card-carrying liberal. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/36 "2012-11-01T18:35:44Z")
Further evidence that God is female. Offers oblique and subtle signals for what She wants, and tears shit up when you are too thick to catch on. Yes, Dear. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/37 "2012-11-01T18:37:42Z")
This, along with the rabbi who blamed the hurricane on gay marriage, is a nice reminder that religious extremists are usually assholes regardless of their denomination or political affiliation. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/38 "2012-11-01T18:45:28Z")
Meh, its a joke. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/39 "2012-11-01T18:46:04Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This, along with the rabbi who blamed the hurricane on gay marriage, is a nice reminder that religious extremists are usually assholes regardless of their denomination or political affiliation. Yep, same bunch of dicks just reading from different books. And I say this as a practicing Catholic - I’m beginning to understand why I’m getting the stink-eye from the pulpit every Sunday… ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503/40 "2012-11-01T19:57:22Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Now, Lord, I can sorta understand being annoyed with us. But what the fuck did Haiti ever do to You? Something about them just pisses him off. > [@zoid](#): > > You know God is really slipping here. > > Why use storms that can just be hand-waved away? We need some good old fashioned shit, like rivers turning to blood or frogs falling from the skies. > > Just in case you’re listening God, let’s not go too far. We don’t really need to get into the whole slaughtering of first born sons again, once was enough. Boils we could really do without too. Darkness would be good to do again, it gets the point across and no one has to get hurt. Just sayin’. Or, ya’know, a direct personal appearance would put a whooooole lot of problems to rest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minister-says-hurricane-sandy-was-a-pro-obama-message-from-god/639503.md?page=3)