view God acts directly and immediately, as Jerry Falwell and others claimed with their portrayal of 9/11 as God's punishment for America's sins (though that list of "sins" was predictably and always committed by people other than religious conservatives). Or we can use the "cool" terminology that theological liberals prefer, claiming that "crimes against humanity" of various kinds and degrees breed their own "blowback" of punishment without direct divine agency. Thus we can imagine that exploitative policy will lead to social unrest, and that indifference to environment will lead to drought,
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