An “act of God”?

That’s what Gov. Rick Perry called the blowout and cataclysmic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Interesting. I’ve always thought acts of God constituted things such as tornadoes, hailstorms and droughts — events with which most Panhandle residents are acquainted. They also involve hurricanes and monsoon-like rain, which pummel our neighbors on the Gulf Coast. They also involve gorgeous sunrises and sunsets — once again events that are pleasing to our eyes here on the High Plains.

But the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf, killing 11 workers and which is still spilling oil into the water isn’t an act of God as most of us understand the term.

Gov. Perry, though, struggled to defend his remark, telling the Houston Chronicle that the phrase has been used “in legal terms for a long time in this state.” Huh?

Maybe the governor is suggesting that since the Almighty governs every activity in the universe, that human error is an act governed by His all-powerful hand.

I’ll stick with my own understanding of the phrase.

What happened in the Gulf is an act of humankind. And human beings are going to be held responsible.