Lying for the Lord - Snopes documents pro-Xian Tsunami Urban Legends

[Modem Butterfly]

I've always been fascinated with urban legends, so I'm a regular reader of Snopes. I think it's interesting the way a story will change shape and morph into a reflection of the teller's beliefs and fears. But I find myself disturbed at the number of pro-Xian (and anti-Muslim/Hindu) ULs that have been landing in my in box. The point of these ULs seem to be "Yay us! Boo them!", and I certainly don't think they're popular with all Xians, but I do believe, hell, I know for a fact, that they're popular with the Xian Taliban, "worship like I do or die" freaker crowd.

http://www.snopes.com/religion/tsunami.asp

From time immemorial, theologians have wrestled with the unanswerable question of why horrifying tragedy befalls the undeserving. Throughout the ages, many of those who have struggled with this paradox have found solace in the belief that all events, no matter how terrible, serve a greater purpose, with those of that mindset looking to find the underlying miracle in monumental disaster. It is far more comforting to believe in an avenging God who strikes down wrongdoers even as He protects the righteous than it is to make one's peace with the concept of disaster not picking its victims. Tales of miraculous survival of the faithful or preservation in the face of natural disaster of religious edifices are expressions of that need to believe in a world that makes sense and a benevolent God in charge of it all. Stories of heartless Muslims washed into the sea and Christ-rejecting cities destroyed even as the faithful were sheltered out of harm's way find a ready audience in that they fit right into what many need to believe if they are to feel at all safe in a most uncertain and treacherous natural world. In this, folklore is used as it always has been, to offer the comfort of an explanation for the inexplicable.

[Behind the Aegis]

1. How funny!!

I was just reading the very post you are talking about yesterday (I also read snopes often). I was thinking about posting something very similar to you, but thought it would be accused of "Christian" bashing. However, have you ever noticed how many of those ULs where Xianity is a "theme" many of them are not even close to being true? I usually can tell they are not true when the "Xians" in the post are the "victims." It is a real shame because there are real cases of discrimination against Christians world-wide, so why make shit up?

Thanks for doing what I did not have the courage to do!

[Modem Butterfly]

2. Yes, I have

The righties have gotten a lot of mileage out of victimization and the idea that they're being persecuted or are otherwise under attack. It makes perfect sense that the religious element of the extreme rightwing would also rely on this tactic.

[pilgrimsoul]

11. They had a story on the freaking local news last night

with some idiot reporter asking people on the street if they thought the tsunami and the recent earthquakes and whatnot meant that the "end of the age" and the "apocalypse" were coming soon! ON THE LOCAL NEWS....okay, let that sink in....and of course, every one of the mouthbreathers said oh yes, it's a sign that the Lord is coming soon, and it couldn't happen quick enough for them! Hooray! Then the so-called "reporter" showed some end-time websites such as Rapture Ready, and basically came across as promoting this tripe as fact. He talked about Revelations as the camera zoomed in on a bible - it was unbelievably creepy. He acted as though he was reporting unassailable knowledge. He didn't even bother getting another viewpoint for contrast. I could not believe I was watching a newscast. And no, this was not a cable religious channel or the 700 Club. This was a local news broadcast on a network channel.

Once I was able to stop weeping for the state of our media, a question occurred to me: what if the reason these people are so preoccupied with the "rapture" isn't so much because they want to convert everybody, but because their suspension of disbelief is reaching a saturation point? What if what we're witnessing is the death throes of the fundamentalist cult? Think about this -- how are all these wingnuts going to cope when all this stuff they see as apocalyptic just keeps happening year after year and JESUS DOES NOT COME BACK??? These are people for whom patience is not a virtue. That's why they're basically trying to "force" the apocalypse by all this crazy stuff they're doing. What if they check off everything on their "To Do" list and the rapture still doesn't happen? Half of this country is going to freak out and it's not going to be pretty.

Oh well, maybe this is what we have to go through to get to a second Age of Enlightenment. America sure could use some right now.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. Here's what I don't understand

If these people are so damn "rapture" ready and so excited about the "Kingdom of Heaven," then why the fuck are they so afraid to die?! The Terri Schivo (sp?) case in Florida is a prime example. Are they so cruel, they would rather her stay here, in the mortal shell, rather than go to be with her "King?" This makes NO sense! Instead of worrying about the afterlife, they should concern themselves with the here and now and stop being such hypocrites and assholes!

[DinahMoeHum]

3. Beware, "Xtians", invoking divine protection cuts both ways. . .

Check out this paragraph in the same article. It's about what happened in Banda Aceh, Indonesia:

http://www.snopes.com/religion/tsunami.asp

(snip)
"...It is interesting to note that a number of mosques in Aceh survived the tidal waves while other buildings around them were destroyed, an unfolding of events those of the Muslim faith might take as a sign of their religion enjoying heavenly protection, not censure, in that it could appear an attempt was made to spare the faithful. Yet it is also true those mosques were better constructed and more structurally sound than the buildings that were razed..."
(snip)


:shrug:

[Igel]

7. There have been all sorts of reports about the Muslim

parallel to the Xian urban legends. Muslims punished because they were bad, saved because they were good, "Allah" being seen in some wave, etc.

They just don't make anybody's inbox.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. When ever i hear some xtian on TV carrying on about how "God

spared us" but the tornado hit their neighbors house, i think to myself "It looks as if God was trying to get you and MISSED!

[Modem Butterfly]

5. I always wonder about the poor bastards that got thwacked

If it was part of God's plan that you survived, then doesn't it follow that it was part of his plan that someone else died? What did they do?

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. Precisely the point!

the answer is NOTHING!

[Modem Butterfly]

8. The phrase gets to me every time...

I had a good friend die at the WTC on 9/11. Not long after 9/11, miraculous and not-so miraculous survivor stories began to surface in the media. I guess the public was interested in stories with some hope. I was talking to someone at work about one of these stories and she started all that garbage about how they was saved for some "higher purpose" and that GAWD hisself has a plan for everybody.

I lost it. I just fucking lost it right there.

Oh yeah? Well what about the 3000 people who died there? Did God have a plan that involved sending them through a concrete blender? Was there some higher purpose that involved roasting them to death and then grinding up their bodies until only the smallest bits were left? Huh? HUH?

I left early that day. The company went under a couple of months later. That lady never spoke to me again.

[uberotto]

9. Several years ago...

I was dating a girl, who'se mom, Margaret, was very religious and also very mean. There was another lady about the same age as Margaret who lived three or four houses down the street. For some reason unknown to me, Margaret and this lady truly hated each other.

One day when Margaret was out at her mailbox checking the mail, a car came flying down the road doing about 80 being driven by someone who had drank way too much to be driving. When the guy in the car saw Margaret standing on the side of the street, he swerved to make sure he didn't hit her and in the process lost control of the car and wound up hitting and killing the other lady who was standing out in her front yard.

A few days after all of this happened, my girlfriend and I were at her moms house and commented about how close she came to being killed herself. Her comment back to us was something along the lines of "God just wanted to get my attention, so that I would know that it was Him that struck down that heathen witch".

I commented back to her that "It looked like God had judged you both, but only found one of you worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven. The other one he left here."

I was never allowed back in her house again.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Great answer!

:thumbsup: