Terrible disasters such as Hurricane Katrina bring out the best in Americans, but also, sometimes, the worst.

As New Orleans lays in ruins, flooded, with thousands of citizens sent to an early grave, the Philadelphia-based Christian group Repent America has taken the opportunity to shamelessly promote its own anti-gay agenda.

On Aug. 31, even as the relief effort to save thousands was barely underway, Repent America sent out a press release which said, in so many words, the New Orleans tragedy was caused by the city’s embrace of sin.

“Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city,” said Michael Marcavage, director of Repent America. “From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence,’ New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin.”

The group complained that Southern Decadence and other festivals, such as Mardi Gras, encouraged “drunken homosexuals [to engage] in sex acts in the public streets and bars.”

A recent trend has developed in America of Christian fundamentalist groups and individuals sticking their feet solidly in their mouths.

First it was Pat Robertson and his call for the assassination of the Venezuelan president, now Repent America seeks to blame the greatest natural tragedy in our country’s history on the “wickedness” of New Orleans.

Are intolerance and murder now tenets of Christianity? Did the Northern Star miss the memo?

God didn’t destroy New Orleans because of debauchery and evil within the city. New Orleans is not a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah.

If New Orleans represented God’s wrath in the biblical sense, then, based on biblical evidence, God would not have been likely to destroy the city. Repent America’s press release is refuted by the teachings in their own sacred scriptures found within the biblical book Genesis.

God tells Abraham he will spare those biblical cities if even 10 righteous people can be found. Were they not found, the cities were destroyed and we’re left with the tale of the destruction in Christian texts.

Just a guess, but God could have found far more than 10 righteous people in New Orleans, a city of nearly half a million people. Not all of the city’s citizens turned into criminals after the hurricane.

In fact, a number of Associated Press stories in recent days have focused on topics such as a bar tender giving an injured tourist “near perfect stitches,” or bands of citizens from all walks of life coming together to prevent looting and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

America has a rocky record when it comes to civil rights and intolerance. This kind of hate speech is insulting and damaging to a nation that still struggles to come to terms with issues such as slavery, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the treatment of native Americans in the name of Manifest Destiny.

Hopefully, Repent America’s stance is the worst reaction to be seen and America’s true nature of compassion and charity will be the most striking memory from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.