No matter how divergent two people can be in terms of background or beliefs, there’s always some common ground to be found. Take for instance American conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and Iranian Muslim cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi—both share the opinion that natural disasters are the work of a wrathful God who punishes people for unacceptable behavior.
According to Limbaugh, the eruption of a volcano in Iceland that’s disrupted air travel over Europe is a sign that President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law has angered a higher power. “I think the earth has opened up,” Limbaugh
told his listening audience. “God may have replied.”
God, apparently, has spoken in
Iran as well by rattling the earth multiple times in recent years, because of women’s refusal to abide by a strict, conservative dress code. Sedighi explained to the Iranian media: “Many women who do not dress modestly... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes.”
Iran’s government requires women to be covered from head to toe, although many are increasingly bending the rules by wearing form-fitting clothes and scarves that expose their hair.
-Noel Brinkerhoff