The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka

In times of trouble, the public always fall back on religious explanations for what went wrong.  A minister in Kansas believes that the Iraq War was caused by homosexuals.  He frequently pickets the funerals of soldiers, proclaiming that they died because of our acceptance of homosexuality in this society.  He and his followers maintain this fantasy in spite of the evidence that the soldiers died from bombs and gunshot wounds while serving in Iraq.   

On a similar note, Rev. Jerry Falwell proclaimed that Hurricane Katrina was caused by giving women access to abortion.  Another Christian pundit proclaimed that Katrina was caused by our lack of support for Israel.  On the other hand, several Muslim leaders have ascribed Katrina to the will of Allah, who is punishing us for supporting Israel.  We just can’t win.

These strange pronouncements hide a more tangible reality.  Belief in God (or the gods) is often a function of group identity.  We, as a group, have a God who reflects our views—no matter how bizarre—and being part of our group is more important to us than questions of truth or falsehood.  Our first act, as a nation, after the tragedy of 9/11 was to “come together” and surrender our individual rational minds to the overarching groupthink.  Dozens of government officials and Right-wing pundits implied and suggested that Iraq was somehow responsible for 9/11.  This was in spite of the fact the the majority of hijackers were Saudi nationals!  And, after all, the Saudis have had close financial ties to the Bush family for many years—so they couldn’t possibly be responsible for 9/11.  It had to be that jerk Saddam Hussein.

In a country inclined to "magical thinking" this is what passes for rationality.