In March 1997, after a tornado ripped through Arkadelphia killing six people and destroying over 70 businesses downtown, Gov. Huckabee held up disaster funding for weeks because he objected to the insurance industry’s term for destruction-by-tornado: “act of God”:

Senate Bill 491 was so straightforward it ran to only two pages. It sought to protect tornado victims from insurance companies that might cancel policies after they filed claims. “No insurance policy or contract covering damages to property shall be canceled nor the renewal thereof denied solely as a result of claims arising from acts of God,” it read.

“Acts of God” had a long history in English maritime law and was standard language in many insurance policies…

According to state legislative records, Huckabee first registered his objection to the Senate bill five days after the tornado. But his staff did not relay his concerns, he later wrote.

“While I realize that to some this is a minor issue, it is a matter of deep conscience with me to attribute in law a destructive and deadly force as being an ‘act of God,’ ” he eventually wrote to the bill’s sponsors, [state Rep. Dennis R.] Young and Sen. Wayne Dowd. While acknowledging that “acts of God” was the “appropriate” legal term, he suggested the legislature substitute “natural disaster.”

Amazingly, Huckabee won this argument. After five alternative phrases for “acts of God” were rejected, the governor and the legislature came to terms on the phrase “natural causes.”

On April 4, three weeks after the town was nearly wiped off the map, Huckabee finally released the disaster relief funds.
http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/01...ct-of-god-aid/