Religious Responses to the Katrina Disaster in New Orleans and the American Gulf Coast(<Special Issue>Religion and Calamities)

Abstract

The Hurricane Katrina disaster that struck New Orleans and the states of Louisiana and Mississippi on the Gulf of Mexico coast on August 29, 2005 stimulated numerous types of religious responses. Some were individualized spiritual responses, and others were congruent with the outlooks of specific religious congregations. Some responses were expressions of negative religious coping, in that the disaster was seen as God's punishment for sins. This punitive theodicy (explanation of why God allows people to suffer) did not prevent many people and congregations from organizing relief efforts. However, punitive theodicies articulated by outsiders who had no intention of helping were actually means to promote particular political and theological agendas. Most of the religious responses to the Katrina disaster were expressions of positive religious coping, in which people took comfort in a higher power, sought to help others, and adopted thoughtful theological explanations that did not blame the victims. A compassionate and empathetic listening presence was a great help to Katrina victims, whether or not it was motivated by religious views.