Sunday, April 25, 2010

Natural disasters as punishment

Tomorrow (Monday) thousands of people are going to test the concept that immodest dress causes earthquakes.  "Boobquake" was a throw-away idea by college student blogger Jen McCreight but it's caught on worldwide:
"On Monday, April 26th, I will wear the most cleavage-showing shirt I own. Yes, the one usually reserved for a night on the town. I encourage other female skeptics to join me and embrace the supposed supernatural power of their breasts. Or short shorts, if that's your preferred form of immodesty. With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake."
This was prompted by the now widely reported claim by Tehran prayer leader Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighior that:
"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes."  [April 19, 2010, ]

Assuming the world doesn't end tomorrow in an exposed-flesh-induced apocalypse, we still have to worry about a plethora of other natural disasters ready to pounce on us for all sorts of bad behavior.  As Rev. Pat Robertson of The 700 Club has explained:
Haitians are "cursed by one thing after another" since they "swore a pact to the devil" leading to this year's magnitude 7.0 earthquake.   [January 12, 2010]

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover (PA): If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city."   "God is tolerant and loving, but we can't keep sticking our finger in his eye forever. If they have future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them."  [November 8, 2005, after the Dover school board was defeated for re-election]

Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment in response to America's abortion policy [paraphrased]   [September 12, 2005]
So, what have we done to cause the volcano to erupt in Iceland?   When the religious leaders of Iran and Pat Robertson are in agreement, it may be time to put on a burqa and hide in the closet. 

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:07 PM

    The trick now is to figure out an accurate way to predict those earthquakes by somehow quantifying our sins!

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  2. Anonymous4:33 PM

    There are a lot of stupid things and people in the world, but this disaster theory is the stupidest of them all.

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  3. Anonymous10:07 AM

    It's easier to test the hypothesis that religious fundamentalism is correlated with stupidity than the one that immodest dress causes earthquakes.

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  4. I'm not sure one day is enough to test this theory. I call for an extended test of Boobquake. It will be hot in Tucson for some time so it should be easy

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