Floating Icons

In the first flood of photos documenting the effects of Hurricane Katrina, I hadn't noticed how many struck a religious theme. Looking more closely, however, there were any number of floating icons, windswept priests, home made signs appealing for mercy, and churches with roofs blown off and spires folded over.

As humble as these images were, it made me think they might represent a different presence for religion. After years of being preached to by this government and threatened with hell fire, perhaps a new order had arrived. Maybe the Almighty him- (or her-) self had decided to step down from the Bush team.

Whatever it was, the failure of the government to respond effectively to human suffering couldn't have done more to erode the far right's claim to the moral high ground. At the same time, just the perception that racial and economic demographics was a variable in the application of "compassionate conservatism" couldn't have been more damning.

Looking back at Katrina, it's possible one of the profound effects will be the neutralizing of God as a right wing asset.[via BAGnewsNotes, HT: Street Prophets]