Blow Wind

August 28, 1998

“... blow wind, swell billow and swim bark!
The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.”

Cassius, JULIUS CAESAR, Act V, Sc. 1

As Hurricane Bonnie approached the North Carolina and Virginia coasts, I was reminded of an ancient and a modern happening, both of which illustrate the nonsense and malice which now and then (too often) characterize the heated pronouncements of some Christian and other religious leaders.

Edward Gibbon describes a violent and destructive earthquake on July 21, A.D. 365, which caused havoc in the Mediterranean area. The sea retreated, killing innumerable fish as well as stranding vessels in the mud. When the sea surge returned, boats were stranded as much as two miles inland. In Alexandria, Egypt, fifty thousand people lost their lives in the inundation. (THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Vol. I, Ch. xxvi, p. 1023 ff)

[Regarding the] Christian bishops of the time, Gibbon goes on to write that “these most sagacious divines pronounced that the establishment of heresy tended to produce an earthquake; or that a deluge was the inevitable consequence of the progress of sin and error.”

We can never know if anyone of that time asked these “inspired” clergy:

“What about your believers who perished with your so-called heretics?”

“What kind of God would have so little power of discrimination?”

In 1998, the wealthy Christian evangelist and TV promoter of his variety of religion, Pat Robertson, made an angry pronouncement. Robertson was incensed, asserting that Orlando Florida could be struck with hurricanes, earthquakes, and possibly a meteor because gay groups were permitted to display rainbow flags during an event at Disney World. Thousands of gay men and women celebrate “Gay Days”, a privately sponsored event at Disney World.

Earlier this year, a series of tornadoes swept Central Florida, causing much property damage and, I think, about twenty-eight fatalities. The most severe damage seemed to have occurred in Kissimmee, a town near both Orlando and the Disney complexes. Robertson asserted that these catastrophes were God’s way of punishing the Disney company not only for “Gay Days”, but also because the Disney company maintains a policy of non-discrimination in hiring and benefits.

Robertson’s diatribes would be hilarious if it were not for the influence of his TV network broadcasting ignorance and engendering hatred.

No tornadoes or fires touched the Disney complexes, people or programs. Why not? Why punish others for what Disney and the Orlando City Council are alleged to be guilty? Does Robertson’s God have such poor aim?

As this is being written, Bonnie is deluging Virginia Beach and Norfolk, Virginia. Is it ironic that Robertson’s headquarters is located [there].

The tectonic forces which cause earthquakes, the climatic conditions which create hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods were functioning billions of years before human life evolved on this planet. The processes were not altered because we humans appeared. We know, or should know, that caution and preparedness are ingredients for dealing with natural forces and mitigating their effects. There have been and there always will be catastrophes without limit which will exert a high cost in human life and suffering. That is the cost of living on this planet. Where would you rather live? Mars? The Moon? Perpetually orbiting in a space capsule?

Accepting that, however, Gibbon writes cogently, “the historian may content himself with an observation, which seems justified by experience, that man has much more to fear from the passions of his fellow-creatures, than from the convulsions of the elements. The mischievous effects of an earthquake, or deluge, or hurricane, or the eruption of a volcano, bear a very inconsiderable proportion to the ordinary calamities of war.”

Gibbon died more than 200 years ago. The 19th and 20th century wars have amply verified his statement. World War II cost 50 million lives, not to speak of World War I, Korea, Vietnam, and the horrors of the tribal wars in Africa.

To live in a Paradise may be a comforting fantasy. However, reality proclaims, “Here we live on this planet, Earth. Let’s do our best to contend, to accept, to help, to change for the better, or at least muddle through.”

As Cassius said to Brutus (Act I, Sc. 2),

“Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”