Acts of God Cities, airlines, insurance companies invoke God when weather causes distress

H6

John Longhurst
Winnipeg Free Press

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WINNIPEG - Why is it that God gets blamed when things go wrong, but can't get credit for things that go right?

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AP

Residents survey tornado damage in Loami, Ill., on Thursday. At least 19 people were injured and dozens of homes and businesses were destroyed as a line of severe weather spawning one or more tornadoes slammed into the central Illinois area Wednesday. Such tragedies are often labelled acts of God, defined as being beyond control, and therefore not preventable.

AP

In this satellite image released Tuesday by NOAA, Hurricane Bill is seen in the Atlantic ocean. The belief that there are some tragic natural occurrences that cannot be blamed on anyone or anything has a long history.

AP

*In this satellite image released Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009, by NOAA, Hurricane Bill is seen in the Atlantic ocean. Hurricane Bill became a dangerous Category 4 storm with top sustained winds near 135 mph early Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009 and forecasters said it could get even stronger as it howls over the open Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center said people in the Leeward Islands should monitor Bill's progress, though the core of the storm was expected to pass well to the northeast of the islands late Wednesday and early Thursday.

The question arises out of events like the terrible windstorm that tore through the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alta., earlier this month.

"It's essentially an act of God," said Dan Kulak, a severe weather meteorologist with Environment Canada, of the storm, which killed one and injured dozens.

That's not the only time God was blamed when something bad happened this summer. In July a violent thunderstorm whipped through Edmonton, knocking down huge trees on city-owned property that damaged buildings and cars.

Residents seeking compensation for damage were out of luck, though; according to a story in the Calgary Herald, the City of Edmonton is not responsible for acts of God - something the paper defined as being beyond control, and therefore not preventable.

"Where we have maintained the tree and there's no negligence on our part, it would be an act of God," said Bonnie Fermanuik, an urban forester employed by the city.

Across the country, in Ottawa, more than 500 homes were flooded by a huge rain storm this summer - the third "100-year storm" since 1996. But, just like in Edmonton, residents are being told the city can't be held responsible.

"After the first flood, they said the same thing they're saying now," flooded homeowner Mike Kavanagh told the Ottawa Citizen, noting that city officials claimed the 100-year rain event was an act of God.

"There must be a lot of religious people down at city hall," he added.

Not even rock music fans are safe. After a concert by the group Foreigner was rained out in Indiana, the band's publicist said it was the first Foreigner concert cancelled "by an act of God" since he began working with the group.

Airlines also invoke God when weather causes flight cancellations; the next time a storm causes a travel delay, don't blame Air Canada - it's God's fault.

Contracts and insurance policies sometimes also mention God in an effort to limit liability in case things go awry. One contract I found on the web cites "war, fire, strike, government regulation, public catastrophe, act of God, the public enemy or other causes" as reasons why you can't get your money back if an event is cancelled.

Even the City of Winnipeg, a non-religious entity, employs this language; the city's alarm bylaw, for example, states homeowners will not be held responsible for false alarms if they can demonstrate it was "caused by a storm, lightning, fire, earthquake or other act of God."

The belief that there are some tragic natural occurrences that cannot be blamed on anyone or anything has a long history in law. It goes back to the Roman idea of casus fortuitus, an accident that due prudence could not have prevented, and the French concept of force majeure, a clause in contracts that frees parties from liability in the event of something beyond their control.

I'm no expert in law or insurance policies; all I want to know is: Does anyone else find it a tad incongruous, in this highly secular age, that God is still held responsible for certain kinds of events? After all, many people today say that everything has a scientific or rational explanation - it's time for humanity to let go of supernatural answers for things that science can easily explain. If that's the case, then why keep on using God as an excuse when things go wrong?

And if we continue to insist on seeing the divine in the weather, why is it that God is only responsible for things like tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and lighting? To be fair, shouldn't God get a little bit of credit now and then for nice sunny days?

Then again, considering the summer we're having, maybe God would just as soon be absent from such a conversation - no point in getting blamed for that, too.