Former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron is being criticized on social media after making controversial comments about Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.
In a video posted on his Facebook page on Friday, September 8, the evangelical Christian spoke out about the disasters.
“How should we look at two giant hurricanes coming back-to-back like this?” the 46-year-old said in the clip recorded at the airport in Orlando, Florida. “Do we write them off as coincidence? Do we write it off as a statistical anomaly? Wow! Who would’ve thought? Is it just Mother Nature in a bad mood? I don’t know how you think about it but I think it could be something much more than all of that.”
He then quoted a section from the Bible and said that hurricanes are “a spectacular display of God’s immense power.”
“When he puts his power on display, it’s never without reason,” he continued. “There’s a purpose. And we may not always understand what that purpose is, but we know it’s not random and we know that weather is sent to cause us to respond to God in humility, awe and repentance.”
The video has been shared more than 5,000 times and has attracted more than 3,000 comments, some agreeing with his opinion, others dissenting strongly.
“Amazing. He actually thinks a god murders people with weather events, in order to teach them humility. Kirk has an impressively twisted mind,” one wrote.
“Tape your mouth shut idiot,” another commented.
“God doesn’t cause hurricanes Dave,” another wrote. “Heat, wind and water do.”
“So let me get this straight, your magical sky wizard sent the hurricanes that HAVE ALREADY KILLED PEOPLE as a display of his love? #notmygod,” another commenter wrote.
The death toll from Hurricane Harvey, which devastated Houston and dumped several feet of rain on southeast Texas, has risen to at least 70.
Irma has swept through the Caribbean, killing at least 23 people and bringing catastrophic devastation to several islands including Barbuda, Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, the Virgin Islands and Cuba. Six million Florida residents were ordered to evacuate before the first effects of Irma were felt in the Florida Keys on Saturday, bringing winds of 125 mph. The eye of the storm is expected to hit the Sunshine State on Sunday.
