"A bishop, no less, has confirmed that last week's flooding of biblical proportions was indeed an act of God. And it means the Almighty is not at all pleased, according to the Bishop of Carlisle.Graham Dow says the heavy rain is a judgement on the West for decadence, the introduction of pro-gay laws, lack of respect for the planet and a woeful ignorance of the Bible."This is a strong and definite judgment because the world has been arrogant in going its own way," says the bishop. "We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage we have caused."He was supported by James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool. "God is exposing us to the truth of what we have done." he said. "If we live in a profligate way then there are going to be consequences."The Sunday Times, June 1, 2007
Falwell reincarnated?
I might as well throw inn this comment by Thomas Sutcliffe in the Independent:
"When is a bishop like a suicide bomber?
On the face of it, the Bishop of Carlisle and the young man who staggered blazing from that Jeep at Glasgow Airport on Saturday afternoon don't have a lot in common. The Right Reverend Graham Dow is a grey-haired man with a twinkling smile, rarely armed with anything more lethal than a crozier.
That wannabe martyr - his 72 expectant virgins currently tapping their fingers impatiently in Paradise - had a head wreathed in fire and a Molotov cocktail in his hand. The Bishop of Carlisle is a diocesan bishop in the Church of England, not a sect commonly associated with acts of terror, while the as-yet-unnamed jihadi is, one guesses, an adherent of Wahabi Islam, a sect which very much is. And yet, on a spiritual level, it seems that they do share one thing. They both believe in a vindictive God.
Independent, 3 July 2007
