Angry Zeus, Complete With Lightning Bolt
The recent earthquake in Turkey, with its horrific consequences, reminds me of the following observation, reported in The New York Times a year and a half ago. A senior cleric, one Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, warned that the “unIslamic” behavior of certain “loose” women is responsible for natural disasters in general and earthquakes in particular. “Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes,” claimed the imam. (Iran, like Turkey, is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries.)
“What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?” asked Mr. Sedighi during a Friday prayer sermon. His answer: “There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion.”
I, for one, can think of a few other solutions: More precise seismic monitoring systems, more efficient, prompt and wide-ranging early warning technologies, strictly enforced anti-earthquake building codes, and so forth.
Turkey, like Iran, is 99-percent Muslim, but presumably its 99 percent hasn’t been sufficiently devout (especially the women). Indeed, it would be interesting to see if the frequency of Turkish earthquakes increased when Ataturk established his officially secular republic and similarly, if Iran enjoyed a parallel reduction in earthquakes after Khomeini initiated his rigorously “Islamic” republic.
Of course, Japan is less than 1-percent Muslim, such that last March’s devastating tsunami plus the high frequency of Japanese earthquakes can only confirm the imam’s extraordinary wisdom. Add to this the fact that earthquakes are frequent in other regions (e.g., the west coast of South America) in which the Islamic population is low, and-in the absence of the Turkey/Iran data just described-the conclusion is undeniable: We had better all rush to the nearest mosque, or—failing that—at least make sure that women dress more modestly.
Or maybe we should look to the beam in our own collective Judeo-Christian eye. Who can forget this prescient (OK, post-facto) theological finger-pointing from the now-sainted Rev. Jerry Falwell, speaking in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. With the equally wise and devout Rev. Pat Robertson acquiescing by his side, Mr. Falwell showed himself a true soul-brother to imam Sedighi:
The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I’ll hear from them for this, but throwing God … successfully with the help of the federal court system … throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad … I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America … I point the finger in their face and say you helped this happen.
Falwell subsequently apologized, sort of. It doesn’t appear, however, that God has accepted it: Judging from recent events in Turkey, he’s still mad.
