God's Work and Satan's Contribution

156

September 1, 2011

Published in die Presse
(Austria) on 31 August 2011
by Michael Laczynski (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Ron Argentati. Edited by Mark DeLucas.

Michele Bachmann does the tea party movement a disservice

Normally, it's not really proper to begin a journalistic opinion piece with a relativization, but in this case an exception is necessary: Not everything said by tea party proponents should be ignored. Their advocacy, for example, that it is everyone's right to live a life free of government oversight belongs in the standard repertoire of liberalism. Even strict interpretation of the Constitution shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.

Michele Bachmann, however, has greatly distanced herself from mainstream liberalism with her latest pronouncements. Whoever tries to dismiss the swath of destruction left in Hurricane Irene's wake as being a broad hint of God's displeasure not only insults the victims of the disaster but also has an obvious problem with theological understanding: If all the destruction was God's doing, what part did Satan play in it?

Gottes Werk und Teufels Beitrag

MICHAEL LACZYNSKI (Die Presse)

Michelle Bachmann hat der Tea Party einen schlechten Dienst erwiesen.

Üblicherweise gehört es sich nicht, ein journalistisches Meinungselement mit einer Relativierung zu eröffnen, doch in diesem Fall sei eine Ausnahme gestattet: Nicht alles, was Proponenten der Tea Party von sich geben, ist zum Vergessen. Die Forderung nach einem selbstbestimmten Leben frei von staatlicher Überwachung zum Beispiel gehört zum Standardrepertoire des Liberalismus. Und auch das Pochen auf Verfassungstreue ist nichts Verwerfliches.

Michelle Bachmann jedoch hat sich mit ihrer jüngster Wortspende weit vom liberalen Mainstream entfernt. Wer, wie die Wortführerin der Tea Party im US-Kongress, die Schneise der Verwüstung, die Hurrikan Irene an der Ostküste der USA hinterlassen hat, als Wink mit dem göttlichen Zaunpfahl deutet, beleidigt nicht nur die von der Naturkatastrophe Betroffenen, sondern hat auch ein theologisches Verständnisproblem: Wenn alles Böse von oben kommen soll, wo bleibt dann des Teufels Beitrag?

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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