Michele Bachmann has once again made me proud to be an atheist. Her controversial comment on hurricane Irene last weekend that she now claims was just a joke (she’s got such a great sense of humor, that woman!) made me happy that at age 16 I rejected the Catholicism that was forced on me at baptism and turned to the light and reason of atheism. 

Bachmann, a right-wing Christian who believes her guy in the sky does horrible things to punish people he doesn’t like, said of the storm that battered the east coast from North Carolina to New England: “I don’t know how much god has to do to get the attention of politicians. We’ve had an earthquake, we’ve had a hurricane.” 

She added: “He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know the government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

Huh?

Michele Bachmann actually believes her god sent a hurricane to kill between 40 and 46 people (some of whom could have been supporters who “roared” over excessive government spending) to send a message to the nation’s errant politicians? Couldn’t he just use email? URGENT, DO NOT IGNORE THIS EMAIL.

Or maybe a TV commercial. Over a clip of Irene tearing up a city street in D.C., the voice of god booms: “Trying to get the attention of your politician? Well, you could send an earthquake or a hurricane to the nation’s capital like I would...”

It’s not the first time some religious nut job has blamed a natural disaster on his or her deity. How many televangelists have pointed their self-righteous fingers at queers, feminists, pagans and others for everything from earthquakes to terrorist attacks?

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who was no stranger to fundamentalist foot-in-mouth disease, once said of 9/11: “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’ ” 

If Irene is a message from god, what about the earthquake in Japan or the drought in Texas and its surrounding states? Perhaps Governor (and GOP presidential hopeful) Rick Perry has done something to anger Bachmann’s lord and savior. Why else would god deprive what is supposed to be some of the more wholesome (and Christian) areas of the country of good old life-sustaining H2O? Not to mention income from the crops they depend on for their livelihood. 

Michele Bachmann may seem like a joke (much the same as George W. Bush did), but her campaign has taken off big time. She has a hell of a lot of money behind her and legions of loyal Tea Party followers who would do anything to get her elected as the Republican nominee for president next year. And then the nation’s first woman president.

It can happen here. And it’s not funny.