People have expressed shock over the mayhem perpetrated on the lawless streets and shelters of New Orleans. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised at the reports of rape, carjacking, and robbery. After all, the city had a crime rate 10 times the national average before Katrina.
Judging by the looting and even resignations of police officers amid the chaos, the civic culture of New Orleans has probably been fragile at best even in fat times, and now is much worse during the lean. Maybe the viciousness on display before a watching world is just all in a day’s work for the thugs who have ruled the city for years.
About Stan Guthrie
Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers.
Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Tell Me More, WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio's New Day Florida. A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?