> Looking at the history of religious thought in the US, it's not the Protestant work ethic per se, but in large part the "prosperity gospel" or prosperity theology [1] -- this belief that God will reward the right kind of Christians with material wealth.

> Except in case of disaster of course, and then maybe some kind of metaphysical excuses might come into play!

there's a particularly distressing variation of this kind of belief that, upon hearing news that a terrible disaster has stricken a distant country, killing tens of thousands, concludes that those victims must necessarily have deserved such a fate -- by not living life according to the well-understood principles, or not worshipping the correct god.

that conclusion is perhaps a reasonable and logical one given belief in enough axioms like "there is an omnipotent god", "if we live a certain way god will reward us", "the universe is generally fair".