We were visiting an individual who was, as I recall it, the bishop of the United Methodist Church there. I asked him to tell me a story that would help us to communicate all we had seen with people back home. He said, "Tell them this. When the children go home for their two week Christmas break, most come back a lot thinner. That's because for many of them, the only meal they usually receive is the one they get at school, and so for those two weeks they have almost nothing to eat." He clearly believed that this reality was not the will of God.

After that trip, I changed my majors and developed an interest in working for justice in the world. Having experienced the worst poverty in the western hemisphere, I could not live the way I always had. That one trip, which was eventually followed by somewhat similar experiences in El Salvador, Zimbabwe, and Mexico, helped me to embrace a theological concept: God is on the side of the poor, and thus we must be too.

That's not a popular message, of course, and it's not the one we often hear from high-profile preachers. Shortly after the earthquake in Haiti, Pat Robertson went on the air and declared that the earthquake and other devastating things that have happened in Haiti over the years were the result of a pact the Haitian people swore with the devil. It's utter nonsense, of course, as this article (from a conservative African-American pastor, who actually took the time to research and debunk the old myth) makes clear. Yet such a statement, repeated frequently enough, gains credence and becomes an accepted "truth." And even though many Christians will see through the bad theology, they still will somehow cling to a belief that earthquakes and poverty somehow must be the will of God. 

I think it's time for progressive Christians to BOLDLY and FREQUENTLY proclaim another message. We need to spread the word on through our social, work, and church networks that we see things differently. Here are three of the key messages I'd love to see posted again and again in the next few days on Facebook and Twitter. 

1. God is love, and the character of one who knows God is compassionate, active love. (1 John 4:7-8)

2. Catastrophes are not the will of God, and they are not caused by God, but they instead are part of the natural order of life. Indeed, a God who would cause such misery and suffering could hardly be called good and compassionate. God—through the work of people like you and me—is a "present help" in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1-3) 

3. In this moment, charity is vital. Please, empty your wallets—you really won't miss the money. But don't forget this truth: Christians are also a people who seek social justice. That's the message of scripture, from the concept of Jubilee (which is about wealth redistribution) in the Hebrew scriptures to the first words out of Jesus' mouth. It's a fundamentally political and economic message, friends.

There you go. Rewrite 'em in your own creative way, or post mine as-is, or come up with your own progressive message. When natural disasters hit, you can count on some Christians to be purveyors of disastrous theology. Be prepared to respond with a message of another kind.