A Turkish conservative newspaper columnist yesterday published an op-ed in which he acted as an Islamic version of Pat Robertson. Observing that “The Quran tells us that if collective sins are not met with collective repentance, that some disasters will occur in that region,” Nuh Gönültaş then says that “The fundamental reality of [Haiti] is that the majority of its people are engaged in witchcraft.” Indeed, “Voodoo is Haiti’s national religion. The majority of blacks living in Haiti perform satanist rituals, do human sacrifice, and make their living from magic.” He then says that of course only God knows the real reason behind the earthquake, but invites his readers to connect the dots. Natural disasters, after all, are but collective punishments from God, for sins that whole communities engage in or turn a blind eye towards.

I can’t find an English translation of the Turkish article. Too bad. It’s a good example of how some obnoxious loonies think alike across the Abrahamic religions.