Creationist Meteorologists

Minnesota: Where talking about the weather is a competitive sport.

Yesterday the Twin Cities Creation Science Association had a meeting to discuss "God's Design in Weather".

From the announcment:

Weather is more talked about than any other topic. God has arranged the weather system on the earth. There are patterns to this weather. How does a tornado form? What causes hurricanes? Why aren't raindrops larger? Science is about finding patterns and then predicting what will happen. The study of weather allows us to think God's thoughts after him.

When I read about this it reminded me of some things I read awhile back. I did a bit of research to check my facts and then posted a comment on the blog I saw the mocking notice on.

Short version:
With the popularity of Ben Franklin's lightning rod protecting homes all over New England and throughout Europe the church started to kick up a fuss. Lightning was assumed to be how God manifests his wrath. Many religious leaders kick up a fuss about how the lightning rod was thwarting God's wrath.
Franklin's response was two-fold. I regret that I must paraphrase since I can't find the original quote. He wondered aloud what kind of god could have his will foiled by a small piece of metal. He also asked if lightning is god's wrath made manifest then why are churches the most common target.

Longer version:
In 1752 Ben Franklin is credited with performing his kite experiment. Some historians refute this as there is no evidence that Ben performed the experiment himself but simply suggested the experiment at a symposium for others to perform. At first there was little said about this theft of power from "Prince of the Power of the Air". Compromise was attempted with preachers moved by hail storms to proclaim the storm as His wrath being demonstrated. They quoted that men "know not whence the wind cometh," then turning around and saying it came "out of His secret places." So, I guess the wind is God farting.

Churches in Germany continued to refuse lightning rods for 30 years after their release. In this time 400 church towers were struck and 120 bell ringers were killed. The churches continued to send bell ringers up the towers in storms to drive away the storm. With the death toll of bell ringers so high this practice was banned in many place. Some advocated firing cannons instead of ringing bells, but this didn't gain much ground.

In several European nations the churches managed to stir up enough hatred of the lightning rods that mobs would go out to tear them down. One chemist took down his own lightning rod to prevent a riot outside his home. A lawsuit about lightning rods ran from 1780-1784. The results gave M. de St. Omer the right to have a lightning rod on top of his house despite the religious objections of his neighbors. This victory established the fame of the lawyer in the case, young Robespierre.

Even with the churches losing ground to the plain fact that Franklin's strip of metal did what exorcisms, holy water, processions, the Agnus Dei, and the ringing of church bells, the rack, and the burning of witches had failed to do they still spoke out against it. A 1755 earthquake in Massachusetts was blamed on Boston for it's record breaking number of lightning rods.

What did the most to convert the faithful was the destruction of the Church of San Nazaro, at Brescia. The Republic of Venice had stored in the vaults of this church over two hundred thousand pounds of powder. In 1767 the spire was struck, the powder ignited, and one sixth of the city destroyed, and over three thousand lives were lost.

While the bulk of my essay has focused on religious prejudice against the lightning rod I do want to touch on a more modern meteorological instance. This is an older map showing the paths of three (at the time) recent hurricane paths through Florida and how various counties voted in the 2000 election. It was drawn up in response to Televangelist claims that the hurricanes were God's wrath on the sinful state.

Similar claims were made after Katrina hit New Orleans. However, the oh so sinful Bourbon Street remained flood free and reopened fairly quickly. They suffered more from the economic downturn than the actual storm.

But I think we can safely assume that Twin Cities Creation Science Association isn't going to reach the conclusion that God has no effect on weather or that God has a hate on for conservatives.

"If, as they say, God spanked this town
For being much too frisky,
Why did He burn His churches down
And save Hotaling's Whiskey?"

Poem on 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, in which
the city's largest whiskey distillery was left unscathed