
What do the recent floods in the Midwest, and the attention garnered over the FLDS polygamy case have in common? It might not be obvious on the surface, but they're both instances where headlines are having a big impact on religion. First, the floods:
One grocery-store owner in Iowa, who is a devout Muslim, saw his business of six years washed away along with hundreds of others in the
severe flooding last month.

Although help to those affected by the horrible damage in the heartland will most likely be forthcoming, relief to the rest of the country due to skyrocketing food prices may not. Sixteen percent of Iowa farms have been destroyed and their entire crops demolished following the severe flooding.
The devastation has in turn caused
record high market prices of corn and soybean products.

Despite backbreaking teamwork to sandbag the riverbanks, the Mississippi River
broke through an Illinois levee forcing nearly half a dozen people to be rescued by helicopter. However, because the federal government learned from a 1993 flood in the same area and planned for a repeat, the damage could have actually been much worse.
After the 1993 Mississippi flood, President Clinton purchased much of the low-lying land buying out more than 9,000 homeowners.

Bush Says Funds Available For Midwest Floods
US President George W. Bush on Tuesday said there was enough money in a government relief fund to handle the flooding disaster in the Midwest and he planned to go to Iowa this week to review the damage. On his first day back from a trip to Europe, Bush said the government had enough money in its Disaster Relief Fund to handle the problems caused by the worst flooding in the region in 15 years.
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