Maybe there really is a god

[Scooter]

Hurricane Laura topples and destroys Confederate monument in Louisiana just two weeks after local parish voted to keep it standing in front of courthouse

A controversial statue commemorating Confederate soldiers has fallen victim to Hurricane Laura just two weeks after local officials voted to keep it displayed on public grounds.

The South's Defenders Monument was seen shattered in pieces while the pedestal holding up the statue stood empty on the lawn in front of Calcasieu Parish Courthouse in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Thursday.

The monument, which has stood in that location since 1915, has been the subject of controversy as calls grew for it to be dismantled.

But local authorities voted 10-4 on August 13 to keep it in place.

Critics call it a symbol of racism that glorifies slavery.

But a Calcasieu Parish official said they asked for public comments, and got 878 written responses against relocating the monument, and only 67 in favor of moving it.

Now the pedestal is empty, and the Confederate statue is in pieces on the ground, victim to the Category 4 hurricane.

Hurricane Laura ripped through southwestern Louisiana on Thursday, destroying buildings in Lake Charles and killing at least five people after making landfall in the early morning as one of the most powerful storms to hit the state.

The hurricane’s first reported U.S. fatality was a 14-year-old girl in Leesville, Louisiana, who died when a tree fell on her house, a spokeswoman for Governor John Bel Edwards said.

Dedicated in 1915, the Lake Charles monument honors Confederate soldiers from the area and other towns across the South.

Parish officials had been taking public comments since late June about what to do with the statue amid calls around the country to remove Confederate monuments many see as symbols of racism.

Resident Gordon Simmons said he opposed removing the statue.

'This is political insanity and the scrubbing of our history has to stop,' said Simmons, who traces his lineage to the Confederacy.

Confederate monuments have been coming down across the South since the global demonstrations against racism and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minnesota.

Many residents at the meeting advocated for the removal of the monument, calling it a symbol that devalues people of color and recalls racial scars.

'Being a Black woman, the pain is real in my soul,' resident Lois Malveaux said.

[Big RR]

With all the horrible things going on in the world, from the pandemic to the killings to people dying from storms I find it very hard to believe that any god would conjure up/direct a storm to topple a statue. A pretty petty use of power IMHO.

[BoSoxGal]

With all the horrible things going on in the world, from the pandemic to the killings to people dying from storms I find it very hard to believe that any god would conjure up/direct a storm to topple a statue. A pretty petty use of power IMHO.

Well so is drowning the entire population of the planet aside from a few creatures in an ark, but that’s the Christian God for ya!

[MajGenl.Meade]

With all the horrible things going on in the world, from the pandemic to the killings to people dying from storms I find it very hard to believe that any god would conjure up/direct a storm to topple a statue. A pretty petty use of power IMHO.

You find it "very hard to believe"? It's impossible to believe - just like that stupid twat who claimed God used hurricanes to bump off naughty sex fiends.

The other response is even more inane but that's par for the course

[Big RR]

With all the horrible things going on in the world, from the pandemic to the killings to people dying from storms I find it very hard to believe that any god would conjure up/direct a storm to topple a statue. A pretty petty use of power IMHO.

Well so is drowning the entire population of the planet aside from a few creatures in an ark, but that’s the Christian God for ya!

Well, to be fair, that was the Jewsih god; there was no mention of christianity then.


And Meade, I was being polite by saying "hard to believe".

[rubato]

With all the horrible things going on in the world, from the pandemic to the killings to people dying from storms I find it very hard to believe that any god would conjure up/direct a storm to topple a statue. A pretty petty use of power IMHO.

God preserved and protected it for105 years and then redecorated.

yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

Well, to be fair, that was the Jewsih god; there was no mention of christianity then.
And Meade, I was being polite by saying "hard to believe".

Ah, the juicy God!

I pondered the choice of picking on Christianity as well. There's the Jewish precedent but why not single out the Islamic god, since the story of Noah and the flood is part of the scriptures held as holy by them also? Well, somebody put the B in igot as well as anal.

[BoSoxGal]

Sorry I did pick an example from pre-Christ Christianity, but it’s still one of the biggest stories in the Christian faith tradition and it shows us that the fairy stories humans created to COMFORT themselves were chock full of death and devastation.

Humans are seriously screwed up, and the vast majority driven by the basest impulses their entire lives - no matter the gild of civilization they wear on the surface.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Poor old God. Just can't win. People die without believing in God - so God can't exist or he wouldn't let them die. People die - and God did it so he can't exist because that's not nice. Although if he doesn't exist then he didn't kill them so maybe he does exist. Except that bad things are done by people to other people and God could stop that so if he does exist then either he doesn't exist or he's cruel - not like the people actually doing the cruel things - it's not their fault unless God doesn't exist. Then it's their fault because God's not there to blame and we always like to blame others for our own failings.

I blame Trump