After the storm — Survivors find there is little else to do but pray

After the storm that destroyed everything, there was little else to do but pray.

In heavily Roman Catholic Louisiana, and along the religiously conservative Gulf Coast, survivors of Hurricane Katrina sought the presence of God when no other help seemed near.

Ida Punzo, who survived the storm in her 130-year-old home in Biloxi, Miss., said, "This place is held together with God's spit."

"God's got our back," said Josephine Elow, 73, at the hotel Le Richelieu in New Orleans' French Quarter.

Aaron Williams arrived at the Superdome with a small crate of what remained of his property: canned goods, water, cigarettes and a Bible.

"No matter what religion you are, whether you're a Catholic, whether you're voodoo, whether you're Baptist or so on, so on, and so on — we all pray. We all pray," Gail Henke said after the hurricane blew through New Orleans.

The city is a hothouse of faith: a mix of Roman Catholicism, black Protestantism and Afro-Caribbean religions. Alongside Catholic churches are mostly black "spiritual churches" that blend the city's three major influences, according to Rodger Payne, chairman of the philosophy and religion department at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Black Protestants in the region tend to be religious conservatives who believe in living a "morally upright life," no matter what poverty and hardships they face, said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a University of Chicago political scientist who researches race and religion.

"These are folks who really believe the Bible is the literal word of God," she said.

So it was no surprise that they sought spiritual relief from their unbearable burdens.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco asked residents to spend Wednesday in prayer. "That would be the best thing to calm our spirits and thank our Lord that we are survivors," she said.

Outsiders joined them. Unlike the days following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, volunteers could not quickly pour into the area from other parts of the country to help with cleanup. But they could send a check to a relief group and ask God to protect the victims.

The World Prayer Center at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., asked its 70,000 members to pray for the Gulf Coast and send money to charities involved in the cleanup.