Some Things I Take Seriously 

Instapundit has linked to a fake news story here about reaction to the terrible Tsunami in Asia:

Washington, DC - Pointing to the devastating weekend Indian Ocean tsunami that left over 24,000 dead, a international blue ribbon committee of climatologists and ecoscientists today issued a stark warning that man-made pollutants have increasingly "make water spirits angry."

The blunt conclusion prefaced a 2300 page meta-analysis of hundreds of scientific studies and computer models detailing links between human industrial activity and wrathful eco-deities. Entitled "Fire Bad: Fire Very Bad," the report warns that the planet faces additional catastrophies unless drastic regulatory action is taken to appease Earthen-furies.

How someone could actually sit at a computer after reading about so many people dying (last count I heard was upwards of 40,000 and likely to increase), and then write that blog entry frankly makes me sick. So many bodies are piling up on beaches that they're afraid that more deaths will occur due to the disease caused by them. Practically an entire generation of children in entire villages have been wiped out by this catastrophe... and you're going to take an opportunity to make a point about some eco-loonies? I understand this was meant as a joke, but some things you just don't joke about. As far as I'm concerned, this ranks up on the absolute stupidity scale with Jerry Falwell blaming 9/11 on homosexuality.

Speaking of which, Ann Althouse has a post on how some people are trying to use religion to grapple with this. She includes a quote and a link to this opinion piece from a minister in Missouri:

There is an account in John's gospel about a time when Jesus and his disciples encountered a man who had been born blind. His disciples asked Jesus why this had happened; was it the man's sin or his parents? Jesus' answer stretches across the boundaries of religions: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned. He was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him."

That is the only perspective on a crisis I ever want to have. God didn't send the earthquake or the tsunami. God didn't cause people to be killed or hundreds of thousands to be left in danger. But this crisis is an opportunity to demonstrate the works of God.

Hindus, Muslims, Catholics and Buddhists are the victims of this natural disaster but this isn't a Hindu, Muslim, Catholic or Buddhist crisis. Persons of all faiths have the opportunity to do a good thing and support one another's efforts.

Amen. God didn't cause this disaster, he gave people the good sense to help their fellow man when one occurs. So don't use this as an opportunity to advance some stupid cause, and try to take advantage of these deaths. Take this time to donate time, money, prayers, whatever you can to help. For a pretty decent list of different places to do just that, go here.