Songs of Praise Rise from Haiti

     Well, the heat is off gays, feminists, and Planned Parenthood. You may remember, Pat Robertson blamed gays and feminists for 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina on the work of Planned Parenthood. Pat has now sunk to an astonishing new low: Blaming the victims of natural disasters themselves. The following excerpt is from the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “700 Club” broadcast of 1/13/10:

"And you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it.

“They were under the heel of the French, uh, you know Napoleon the 3rd and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil.

“They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.'

“True story.

“And so the Devil said, 'Okay, it's a deal.’

“And, uh, they kicked the French out, you know, with Haitians revolted and got themselves free.

“But ever since they have been cursed by, by one thing after another, desperately poor..."

Source: ABC: Pat Robertson Blames Hatians

     The Gospels are very clear about Jesus’ thoughts on the subject of natural disasters and life’s misfortune – they were just that. He never blamed the victims. Here are some specific citations:

     As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. – John 9

     Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you…     – Luke 13

     There have been a number of responses to Pat Robinson's shockingly calloused and unscriptural remarks, but from The Washington Post, the voices of the Haitian people raised in songs of praise seem to be the best response.

At night, voices rise in the street. Sweet, joyful, musical voices in lyric Creole. A symphony of hope in a landscape of despair.

"It doesn't mean anything if Satan hates me, because God loves me," sing the women at Jeremy Square, their faces almost invisible in the darkness of this powerless, shattered downtown. "God has already paid my debt."

Port-au-Prince has become a kind of multidenominational, open-air church. Tens of thousands live in the street together, scraping for food and water, sharing their misery and blending their spirituality.

The women singing together in Jeremy Square might never have worshiped side by side before the disaster, but now their voices harmonize and soar well past 2 in the morning.

     The hand of God was not in the earthquake; the hand of God is behind those who sing and pray together, who come from other countries to offer aid, and in you and me when we open our hearts to pray and send support.