Faithful Democrats - The Multitude Gathered: Reflections on Katrina

The Multitude Gathered: Reflections on Katrina

By Obery Hendricks

Sep. 04, 06 13:00

Tags: Black Church, Economic Justice, Human Rights, Mainline Protestant, Race and Ethnicity,

The Gospel of John contains an interesting social lesson. In the sixth chapter, Jesus asks Peter where they can buy enough bread to feed the hungry gathered crowd. Peter's answer is that they can't afford to. The Gospel then tells us that Jesus' query was not a real question at all, but a test of Peter's willingness to find a way to meet the immediate needs of the people - a test that Peter failed. For with only five loaves of barley bread and two fishes, Jesus fed the entire hungry mass -- with extra left over, no less.

What is the lesson of this story? That the difference between addressing the needs of our neighbors and leaving them mired in need - especially when we have resources to call on -- is simply whether we muster the will to do it, or not. In other words, where there is a will - a true will - there is a way.

That is a poignant lesson for us today. August 29 marks the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst disasters in our nation's history. The hurricane itself was an act of God, but the tragedy that followed was the result of the collective actions of a government that simply did not muster the will to meet the storm victims' needs until many had painfully died or were thrust into a tragic downward spiral of deprivation, dislocation and homelessness.

Still, several weeks after the disaster, President Bush heartened many in a speech in New Orleans' Jackson Square when he announced that despite his administration's failures, he did in fact have the will to reconstruct the lives of his suffering fellow Americans. "We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action," he declared. "We will do what it takes."

But since his dramatic declaration, the president seems to have lost the will to help. For almost a year - until the last few weeks, in fact -- he has been virtually silent on the plight of the Katrina victims. His apparent lack of will has had devastating results. Seventy-five percent of New Orleans' pre-Katrina population remains dispersed over 49 states. Medical care in New Orleans is hard to come by, as is education: only three of nine hospitals have reopened and just 56 of New Orleans' 128 schools will reopen this fall; it is estimated that as few as a third of school-aged children will be in place when the fall term begins. The suicide rate in New Orleans is three times pre-Katrina, yet there is not one open facility for psychiatric patients. And nearly sixty percent of the inhabited homes and businesses in New Orleans are still without gas and electricity. Moreover, while more than 100,000 homeowners throughout Louisiana languish on a waiting list for aid to rebuild their homes, so far not one has received a single dollar of federal housing rebuilding assistance.

In July, seven of the nine religious leaders Bush enlisted to distribute aid to churches resigned in anger over the administration's disarray and sluggish disbursement of the funds designated for Gulf Coast faith organizations. The overall pace of the recovery is so slow that even tsunami relief workers who visited New Orleans this summer were shocked. The UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern over how "poor people... continue to be disadvantaged under the reconstruction plans." Even the Republican congressional candidate from New Orleans has made public his outrage. "George Bush has forgotten us," Joe Lavigne's campaign ads complain. "He's... not living up to his promise to rebuild New Orleans."

With the first anniversary of the tragedy looming, Bush has tried to divert attention from his administration's still painfully slow response by telling Katrina's suffering victims to be patient. "A one year anniversary is just that," he said, "because it's going to require a long time to help these people rebuild."

Yet Bush has rushed this country into every policy measure he thought important, from an unnecessary war to multiple tax cuts for the wealthy. He even rushed disaster aid to victims of the tsunami in two days, and they were half a world away. Yet tragically, when it comes to alleviating the suffering of America's Katrina victims, Bush speaks not of urgency, but of patience.

The Gospel of Luke tells us that in his inaugural sermon Jesus announced the purpose of his earthly ministry with these words, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." Throughout the Gospels Jesus makes it clear that care of the poor and vulnerable is one of his deepest concerns, so much so that he gave this as the primary yardstick of faith in him: "As you did not do it to the least of these, you did not do it to me." In other words, the Jesus that George Bush claims as his Lord not only taught that we can meet our neighbors' needs if we have the will; he also taught that we must have the will.

In the coming election season, President Bush and politicians aligned with him who also trumpet their Christian faith will try to trade on that faith to garner votes. They will try to hide their abandonment of America's most vulnerable citizens behind distracting religious sloganeering and hot-button issues like gay marriage. But we must not allow it. We must remind Bush and his congressional cohorts that the Christian faith they profess calls for them to make alleviation of the suffering of the Gulf Coast poor - indeed, of all America's poor - this nation's immediate domestic priority.

In Mark's Gospel Jesus asks, "Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" That is the question we must ask President Bush and those politicians who strut their Christian faith while ignoring the care for the needy that their faith demands: "How can you call Jesus ‘Lord,' and not do what he says?"

By Obery Hendricks
Author of The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus' Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted

LIST OF COMMENTS

2/8. New Orleans & Mississippi gulf coast

I realize the purpose of your comments is to blame President Bush and the Republican party for all the ills experienced in New Orleans and along the gulf coast as a result of Katrina. There were the calls for the government to do something and do it quickly. You make it sound as though nothing was done; but we are slowly finding out much has been done. Billions of dollars have been spent and countless hours have been spent by those offering assistance. Sadly, there has been little reporting of any relief work provided by members of liberal, mainstream churches. What I hear Dr. Hendricks say is all this is the responsibility of our federal government. You need to tell us what you and those over whom you have influence have done to help the victims of Katrina. Be honest about the assistance the federal government has provided and quit making it sound like we as a nation have collectively turned our backs on the people of south Louisiana and south Mississippi.

3/8. Was Jesus a liberal

When studying the life of Jesus, it becomes abundantly clear, that Jesus was in fact, by today's standards a liberal. He was all inclusive, aligned himself with the poor and disenfranchised, rather than the rich and powerful. His church was in the hearts of his followers, not a fancy building. The right wing republicans have high-jacked Jesus, in my view. Jesus used such words as "Blessed are the peacemakers,", Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek. this is a far cry from what the GOP is doing in the name of
God. Jesus told us to turn the other cheek, not to fight terror by becoming terrorists, but by spreading the seeds of peace, and understanding...not spreading bombs and causing more terror. In the bible it says, that we are, "Of one blood all peoples of the earth". I think God wants us to stop killing each other, and work together to solve the problems that face the world. Poverty, disease, global warming, war. There is a strange disconnect in gw bush's version of Christianity. He leaves out all the parts about loving your neighbor as yourself, and loving your enemies, and being kind to those who would harm you. Also he forgets the all important commandment, "thoug shalt not kill". This leads me to ask, "can a so called Commander in Chief, in fact be a Christian? Being a Christian, means being Christ like. I don't think Jesus lead any armies or invaded any countries. It is a very difficult if not impossible thing to do, (to be Christ like) but certainly something to strive for. We don't become Christ like though hate, or divisiveness, blatant materialism/greed, or violence/war. Jesus brought us the gospel of love. It's time we get back to the true meaning of being a Christian, and not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.

5/8. Judging and Sexual Error

It is not unusual to hear secular man say that someone has used poor judgement, yet even Christians appear not to have understood teaching about this issue of judgement within the Bible.

A Christian (mature) and especially a leader should know the difference between Gods judgement that ends in destruction within the Lake of Fire, and the judgement that every (mature) Christian is admonished to be involved and making, and this judgement is described in ! Cor 2:15.

Who would even think we are not to judge adults having sex with children, that I am aware of this is not described or warned (specifically or in detail) within the Bible. And what of the adult involved in same-sex that is (specifically) decribed in the Bible. Only secular man quotes "judge not lest you be judged," and believes a Christian as spiritual man is being told not to judge.

Most definately (any) person within carnal nature and out of the will of God in this situation should not judge, for surely they will find themselves in dire trouble with God.. However, those who say a (mature) Christian is not to judge, these also are in trouble with God.

As God disciplines those he loves, we also are called upon to make similar judgement, meaning discipline that builds (not destroy) in correction. Are homosexuals to be warned, name a sinner in sin that is not to be warned. To continue to live in sin is to meet Gods judgement. For us to become aware of the sin and not warn the sinner, is to have their blood upon your hands.

Christians who have leaders that teach they are not to judge, my advice is to leave and find a (mature) teacher in the Lord.

6/8. Multitude, Katrina

As usual, a socialist, this time pseudo-cleric Obery Hendricks, blames the problems of the Black community on everybody but the members of the community themselves. Furthermore, a man who presents himself as an expert on the bible and Christianity erroneously uses a passage from the Gospel to cast aspersions on the federal government's actions after hurricane Katrina.

The citizens of New Orleans had warning days in advance that a terrible hurricane was coming, and that New Orleans would likely be inundated. Many of these citizens foolishly decided not to leave, thinking as they have been taught by people like Hendricks, that the government should do for them what they are fully capable of doing themselves. Even those that didn't have their own transportation could have taken rides in the hundreds of school busses available in New Orleans. Oh yeah, but idiot Mayor Nagin, who also happens to be Black, didn't bother to send the busses, again, thinking the federal government would be able to handle everything.

The passage of the Gospel of John quoated by Hendricks does NOT say a thing about how a government should operate. This passage refers to INDIVIDUAL conduct, as does the bulk of the bible.

Further proof of Hendricks ignorance could be heard during his appearance on "The Factor", when he made the comment that black people have never enslaved anybody. Utter nonsense! There has ALWAYS been slavery by and of black people throughout Africa. During the unfortunate era when there was slavery in the USA, Black people in western Africa captured, enslaved, and sold as slaves other black people. During the same period, there were black slave owners. There are black people in Africa RIGHT NOW, who hold people in slavery.

Hendricks and his flock will do much better once they stop assigning themselves exclusive victim status, and get on with life.

7/8. Everyone is guilty

I agree with Charles regarding blacks enslaving other blacks. Even in this country blacks of mixed ancestry in Louisiana ("Creoles of Color") kept slaves until the early 19th century. Furthermore, black Africans enslaved other blacks by the millions, primarily as a bi-product of tribal warfare. These people were then sold to North African slavers who sold them to white slavers in the slave markets that dotted the coast of North West Africa. The "Roots" scenario in which white slaver catchers tie up off some beach and then traipse into the countryside looking for slaves is a myth. Also, there were probably about a million white Europeans who were captured on the high seas by the Barbary pirates who ended up as slaves in various parts of Africa. That Hendricks would make such an obtuse statement on television really calls into question his credibility as a scholar.

Last Updated ( Sep. 04, 06 17:46 )

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