In a natural disaster — such as the Haiti earthquake, the Indian Ocean tsunami or Hurricane Katrina — we as Christians know how to react.

We pray for the victims. We rush help to devastated communities. We depend on our omnipotent God to sort out the reasons why such tragedies occur.

But in the case of a manmade disaster, what should our response be?

As we write this, thousands of gallons of oil are spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, adding to the tens of millions of gallons already in the water after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion. BP has made repeated attempts to shut off the flow of oil and failed. Meanwhile, White House energy adviser Carol Browner has called the spill “probably the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced in this country.”