Conservative writer says Joplin tornado is God's punishment for President Obama's treatment of Israel

Thank God, the Joplin area is overflowing with good people of many religions, because a few people are doing their best to give all of them a bad name.

The author of the recent best-seller, The Tea Party Manifesto: A Vision for an American Rebirth, said on his website today that the Joplin tornado is God's punishment for President Barack Obama's treatment of Israel.

In his latest "Behind the Lines" commentary on his website WorldNetDaily, Joseph Farah, a former Los Angeles Herald Examiner executive editor and co-author of Rush Limbaugh's book, See I Told You So, offered the following commentary:

Bible prophecy may have a bad name in the light of Harold Camping's misguided date-setting, but the biggest sign of the end may have been overlooked in all the rapture hysteria of last weekend.


Once again, we've seen the U.S. hit with a series of deadly superstorms following Barack Obama's pledge to return Israel to pre-1967 borders.

Just days after Obama insisted Israel must give up lands it won through military victory with its enemies, some 200 people were killed by a tornado in Joplin, Mo.

There's a pattern here.

Yes, there is a pattern. A pattern of grandstanding glory seekers twisting religion to their own purposes.We are seeing that today with the Westboro Baptist Church's arrival in Joplin to protest today's 2 p.m. memorial service at Missouri Southern State University, as well as their cyberattack Saturday on memorial websites set up for tornado victims, including Joplin High School graduate Will Norton and JHS student Lantz Hare.

Farah, who calls himself an evangelical Christian, is doing as much in his own way to damage

Sadly, Farah, who also, not surprisingly,  is one of the leaders of the Birther movement, is not alone in his beliefs that the President is responsible for the Joplin tornado. The comments on his column have more Amens than 100 revival meetings.

This demented interpretation of the Scriptures, is not the kind of religion that offers solace to the suffering and offers a hand to those in need.

That kind of religion will be on display today at Missouri Southern State University as Rev. Randy Gariss conducts the memorial service with the help of other area religious leaders.

That kind of religion is what has brought people from all over the United States to this corner of Missouri to help those who have lost loved ones, their homes, and the way of life they have always known.

Faith, as they say,can move mountains and it will help the city of Joplin to get through this crisis. At some point, faith may also enable us to forgive people like Joseph Farah and the Westboro Baptist Church who have no qualms about using the suffering of others to advance their cause.

I doubt that I can be so forgiving.