As long as there are religions, there are going to be people who are hiding their rottenness behind the veil of religion.

Juliana Hatfield

The earthquake in Haiti is beyond anything I can imagine. I am from a small town, large crowds to me are a few thousand people. To think that 100,000 people are dead, that 40 percent of that country’s children were killed, that a third of the country has been destroyed is something I can’t really wrap my mind around. It is a disaster I cannot even begin to relate to, a horror that seems other worldly.

The world has rushed to help, planes can hardly land fast enough for the Haitians as well as those going to their rescue. To see the outpouring of support makes one feel grateful for humanity, to feel good about the global village.

Of course, the situation, as with most things that hit the airwaves, became politicized almost immediately. But most of the talk about the earthquake and the subsequent reaction was positive, requests for donations and pictures of help arriving, which of course was not enough to ease the suffering, but George W. and Bill Clinton together seemed to embody the political attitude, do what ever you can, help these poor people.

Until Rush Limbaugh managed to get his two cents in. He found a way to use the Haitian earthquake to make a jab at the Obama administration. One would think that impossible, but Rush is a scrapper. He opens his mouth and the hits just keep a’comin’. But really, did you expect anything else from Rush? Limbaugh has to pay the mortgage just like John Doe, so he went to working overtime during this disaster.

Then Pat Robertson spoke. He brought up that Haiti had sold its soul to the Devil in order to get France to leave. (I realize that some people don’t care for the French, they have been called rude and arrogant. But, really, a pact with Beelzebub himself?). Apparently, according to Robertson, this earthquake was simply the latest in payments extracted by The Dark One for ridding Haiti of the French, kind of like St. Patrick ridding Ireland of its snakes, by which I mean if the French were reptilian and St. Pat was the Devil.

Some time after the good Reverend made his observation, the Daily News received a news release from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. These are the people who picket the funerals of gay people and soldiers, you know the ones. “God hates these people, Obama is the devil,” you may recall some of their more popular tunes. The flier they sent after the earthquake was in the same warm, fuzzy tone, they were thanking God for the earthquake, it was obviously a punishment for the “filthy Haitians” for Catholicism and idolatry, “God hates Haiti.” You can’t make this stuff up.

These types of hate mongering fanatics are best dealt with by ignoring them, any reaction simply fuels the fire, and these releases are usually thrown straight into the garbage. But, for some reason, I found myself carrying this one back to my desk and reading it. I even brought it home and my children read it.

Another completely over the top reaction came from Billy Roper, who is with White Revolution. Roper went so far as to give his efforts at dehumanizing the victims in Haiti a catchy title, “Nutrition for Neutering.” He offered “one can of nonperishable food to each and every Haitian citizen affected by the earthquake who agrees to be sterilized, so as not to ever reproduce again.” He suggested food drives to be conducted by schools and churches.

For people like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter to spout this garbage is expected, they do it for the flurry of publicity it produces. It is their job, and jobs are inspired by paychecks. The bigger the storm of controversy, the bigger the check.

For people who are claim that the people of Haiti, that children, are somehow responsible for the destruction cause by the biggest earthquake to hit the country since 1777 is another level of wrong, it is reprehensible.

But the most horrible aspect of those who have said the Haitian people somehow deserve this is that those people are spitting their venom in the name of God.

I am not a church member, I have no religious affiliations. I do not claim to have memorized any scriptures that weigh in on the Haitian earthquake one way or the other. But I do know hate when it rears its head. I do know that intolerance is not a Christ-like attribute. I also know that, as a human, this type of verbal poison makes me nauseous. To actually read it in printed out in black and white quite takes my breath away.

This type of pure evil brings to mind the Inquisition, the Crusades and the murder of Catholics in Ireland. Mankind can, and periodically does, see fit to kill each other in massive numbers for any number of reasons. But to do so in the name of God seems has to be the most perverse, bizarre and evil act that could be committed.

This is beyond being a publicity hound, more than simply wanting to see one’s name on the news. This is spreading hate in the name of all that is, or should be, love.

If the purpose of religious leaders is to bring the word of God to people, to convince people to dedicate lives to God and the service and support of their fellow humans, these people seem to be working for the other side. If ever there was a call from the Devil, the embodiment of evil itself, this type of publicity is it. Mephistopheles has found some really good PR guys in these so-called Christians. They are promoting his agenda in the name of the opposition.

If there is a Hell, and if there is a Heaven, it only follows that there would be, there is surely a special section for those who promote hatred and evil in the name of God.