Franklin Graham, on Disasters -- Sept. 25, 2005

  -- A weekly feature on This Week.

Our voice this week is Franklin Graham. He is the son of Billy Graham and an evangelist in his own right. So we turned to him with the questions it is almost impossible not to ask when disaster strikes. How could God let this happen? Why should the poor and the weak suffer the most? And where is the comfort? Here is one man's answer.

Franklin Graham: I don't have answers as to why these types of tragedies happen. It's sad. It breaks your heart that people had to suffer in such a way, and my thoughts and my prayers go out to the families of those that died on that bus. But we need to put our faith and trust in almighty God. When we're in a storm, God does not leave us. God is with us. But unless we repent, we're going to perish also. Our homes, our businesses, our jobs, everything can evaporate in an instant. But yet, it's our faith and trust in God, and are we ready to stand before a holy God in heaven?

Yes, New Orleans is known for Mardi Gras. It's known for Bourbon Street. It's known for all kinds of things that I believe are not right. But there are many Christians that live in New Orleans and they lost, too. They lost their homes. So there's always a danger in judgment when people of faith start pointing the finger at someone else and saying something bad has happened to you because of this or that. There's always been storms. There's always been earthquakes. There's always been famines. The end is not here yet, but it's coming.

I believe that many times good can come out of a storm like this. It is the churches that I believe is the true story of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The cooperation between the state and the churches is tremendous. They are doing it for one purpose, and that is to help our fellow citizens recover from this great tragedy and give men and women a second chance at life.

The Late Show with David Letterman:

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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

Stewart: At a recent press conference with Vladimir Putin, [President] Bush said he was confident his plan would work.

President Bush (at press conference): Well, it's going to cost whatever it costs. Therefore we should not raise taxes.

Stewart: Responded Putin, "Look, I live in a country where blue jeans and a bottle of Jack Daniels gets you two women for a month. That doesn't even make sense to me."

Weekends at the D.L.:

D.L. Hughley: Scientists discovered that stem cell injectors repair spinal cord injuries in mice. And that's great for the Democratic Party, since they lost their spine a long time ago. You know it's true.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno:

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