David Knowles

I’ve never really understood the Christian Conservative mentality. I mean, I always thought it was dangerous to mix religion with trickle-down economics. Literally, I thought it must simply be a lack of information or a lack of situational awareness. Apparently I’ve never delved deep enough into the dark psyche of the Christian right.

It all started when I stumbled across the response to the Haitian earthquake disaster from Pat Robertson’s ”The 700 Club”. Planet Earth’s natural crustal activities aside, Robertson’s placed the blame (yes, apparently earthquakes can have blame) squarely at the feet of the Haitian people. He stated, “They were under the heel of the French … and they got together and swore a pact with the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ ” God, never being known for quick response time, decided to punish the people of Haiti two hundred years later.

At first this entire affair just seems like one very sad old man with the unfortunate disadvantage of having a camera follow him around to catch his more senior moments. But when I truly think about the implications of his argument, I begin to get very afraid that these people might one day again be in a position to influence our global policy. 

We have to deal with the notion that God causes earthquakes, or simply causes natural disasters in general. Scientific discipline aside, the implication is that all worldly disasters can be interpreted as divine retribution, rather than natural disasters. I feel that this leads you down a road where the moral obligation to help our fellow people diminishes. Why would a nation (a Christian nation as I am often reminded by conservative family) help people who are being punished for their satanist affiliations? Foreign aid gets hit hard from conservatives, but I always thought it had to do with the desire to pass the savings on to we, the yacht consumers. I’m starting to sense symptoms of a far more disturbing world view. That these less fortunate nations have brought it all on themselves and are worthy of nothing but contempt.

It is a truly remarkable that a world-view exists where our fabulously excessive wealth can be attributed to divine favor, while the crushing poverty felt by the people we exploit can be conveniently be dropped on Satan’s doorstep. This, from people who follow a religion started by a man who stated that the poor shall inherit the Earth.

Luckily our President is Barrack Obama, and on the way to Haiti is desperately needed relief.

Donate online at as.ucsb.edu and Associated Students will match up to $25,000.