Saturday, February 23, 2008

Earthquakes: Whose fault are they?

(Sorry about the pun in the title. I have a shame-deficiency.)

I recently read this article where a member of Knesset advanced the belief that gays cause earthquakes. I was a bit surprised to hear that, and looked into it. It turns out that earthquakes are actually caused by shifting tectonic plates. It also turns out that Israel is actually right at a geologically earthquake-prone area--there's a Dead Sea fault, described in this article as "one of the deepest and most abrupt depressions on Earth." Since it is possible that there are other persons similarly confused, I figured I might as well share.

So to recap:


Shifting tectonic plates cause earthquakes.

And not these:


Gay people don't cause earthquakes.

Now, I guess I would be remiss in not admitting that I may have been mistaken as to what was actually being said, and it wasn't, in fact, gay people that the gentleman was indicating cause earthquakes at all, but rather an angry God. On thinking that notion over, however, it seems very unlikely that an all-powerful being would express his displeasure with something as vague and sloppy as an earthquake. Earthquakes have been known to destroy lots of property, tear up real estate, and kill people, both gay and straight. Statistically speaking, mostly straight. There really isn't anything all that specific about an earthquake that would indicate that it was intended for the gays. It might be different if we were provided with a chart so that we could connect natural disasters with the sinning activities that are currently irritating the Almighty. That way we could consult it when, say a forest fire broke out and be clear on what had happened.

"Let's see...forest fire? That would be adultery..." And so on. And then everyone would knock off the fornicating and things would go back to normal.

But as for earthquakes? I'm sticking with the geological answer.

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