By Elizabeth O’Brien
LONDON, England, July 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the wake of last week’s torrential downpours in England and Wales, a disaster that flooded rivers, cost the lives of at least 4 people, caused 600 injuries and resulted in an estimated £1 billion in damages, Anglican church leaders are declaring that it is a judgment on an immoral world.
According to the Telegraph, the flooding damaged approximately 27,000 homes and 5,000 businesses – the worst hit areas being Toll Bar and along the River Don at Bentley in South Yorkshire where hundreds of people were forced to evacuate their homes. Approximately 3,500 people have been saved in the UK since Monday in what General Secretary Matt Wrack called “the biggest rescue effort in peacetime Britain.”
The Rt. Rev. Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, stated in the Telegraph, “This is a strong and definite judgment because the world has been arrogant in going its own way.”
He said, “We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused.” He also referred to the ancient Roman civilization that collapsed due to its own corruption and spoke of how the government has been “playing the role of God in saying that people are free to act as they want.”
The Bishop referred specifically to the general moral permissiveness of a society that regards “every type of lifestyle” as legitimate. He said, “The sexual orientation regulations are part of a general scene of permissiveness. We are in a situation where we are liable for God’s judgment, which is intended to call us to repentance.”
Similarly, the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt. Rev. James Jones, stated, “People no longer see natural disasters as an act of God,” but “we are now reaping what we have sown. If we live in a profligate way then there are going to be consequences.”
He continued, “We have a responsibility in this and God is exposing us to the truth of what we have done.”
The Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, also commented, “We are all part of the problem and part of the solution. Instead of living as if we owned the earth we need to recover a sense of being participants in a web of life with responsibilities to other life forms and to our children.”
Such statements are similar to those made by Christian leaders after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans two years ago. In a city of rampant sexual immorality and in which the annual Mardi Gras activities openly mocked Christian symbols, some Christian leaders viewed this disaster as a divine judgment as well.
Franklin Graham, the son of evangelical leader Billy Graham, explained that the disaster was part of God’s plan for the city’s purification, saying, “There’s been Satanic worship in New Orleans. There’s been sexual perversion. God is going to use that storm to bring a revival. God has a plan. God has a purpose.” Similarly, New Orleans Archbishop Emeritus Philip J. Hannan called Katrina “a chastisement from God.”
Read coverage in the Telegraph:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/01/nflood201.xml
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
New Orleans Archbishop Emeritus: Katrina “Was a Chastisement from God”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05100501.html
Christian Leaders Calling for Conversion of New Orleans Post-Katrina
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05100608.html
New Orleans City Council President: “Maybe God’s Going To Cleanse Us”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/sep/05090111.htm
No Prosecution for Anti-Christian London Gay Police Association Ads
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092608.html
Anglican Church of England Will Allow Gay Clergy to “Marry”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/05053007.html