Last night I read a very interesting article, "Christian, Jewish and Muslim Fundamentalists Agree that Natural Disasters Are God's Revenge on the Modern World" by Marsha B. Cohen. She aptly points out that various natural disasters are viewed as forms of divine retribution by various religious leaders and, as she states, the different interpretations are because of the "devil, as always, is in the details."
For another, if we accept this being's existence AND we base our beliefs in he/she/it on the descriptive narrative provided by the Abrahamic religions, then why would a just and loving being condemn the innocent along with the guilty? What purpose would it serve for a god to slaughter the newborn and the very young? They haven't had time to "sin" or turn away from the deity. Yet, in natural disasters, the young, the old and everyone in between sometimes suffer the agonizing fate.
There is, of course, another likely explanation. Our planet and the atmosphere surrounding it behaves according to its internal nature and, when "bad" things happen to the various structures and life forms, there is NO INTENT INVOLVED. Earthquakes don't occur because God or Allah is having a hissy fit; they occur because tectonic plates move and this movement releases tremendous amounts of energy. Hurricanes don't strike particular regions because the inhabitants have engaged in immoral activities; they occur because of a confluence of atmospheric conditions.
In my estimation, the chief reason that far too many people like to ascribe intent to natural disasters is based on the fallacy that humankind is the highest life form and that, if almost everything we humans undertake is predicated on intent, then intent must be a personality trait of that whose image we were created from. Maybe if we climbed down off of our high horse, such notions would disappear altogether.
There is another consideration as well. We humans like to pretend that we have some measure of control over the situation. If only we could behave in externally prescribed ways, then there would no longer be natural disasters. From this unrealistic perspective, perfect people would usher in a perfect world; one bereft of pain, suffering and misery.
Personally, I don't think this would make one wit of difference. In fact, I'd love to see a day when every person in the world was being perfectly perfect and yet a bolt of lightening or a tsunami descended on a portion of this idyllic perfection. How would the religious authorities deal with that circumstance?
When a Shiite prayer leader blames earthquakes in Iran on immodestly dressed and promiscuous women, neocons like Michael Ledeen snicker.It should go without saying that I think such interpretations are based on magical thinking. For one thing, a supreme creator is nothing more than a human-based concept. While he/she/it may or may not exist, we genuinely have not a clue in regards to how he/she/it -- IF he/she/it is bona fide -- actually operates.
When a prominent ultra-orthodox Israeli spiritual and political leader agrees with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyehthat the fire destroying Israel’s Carmel Forest is a punishment from God, there’s silence.
Ovadia Yosef, a former Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel, who remains a prominent spiritual and political leader of the Shas party, and Palestinian Prime Minister elect Haniyeh agree that the Deity has been venting His fury by means of the destructive blaze in Israel, but disagree about why...
For another, if we accept this being's existence AND we base our beliefs in he/she/it on the descriptive narrative provided by the Abrahamic religions, then why would a just and loving being condemn the innocent along with the guilty? What purpose would it serve for a god to slaughter the newborn and the very young? They haven't had time to "sin" or turn away from the deity. Yet, in natural disasters, the young, the old and everyone in between sometimes suffer the agonizing fate.
There is, of course, another likely explanation. Our planet and the atmosphere surrounding it behaves according to its internal nature and, when "bad" things happen to the various structures and life forms, there is NO INTENT INVOLVED. Earthquakes don't occur because God or Allah is having a hissy fit; they occur because tectonic plates move and this movement releases tremendous amounts of energy. Hurricanes don't strike particular regions because the inhabitants have engaged in immoral activities; they occur because of a confluence of atmospheric conditions.
In my estimation, the chief reason that far too many people like to ascribe intent to natural disasters is based on the fallacy that humankind is the highest life form and that, if almost everything we humans undertake is predicated on intent, then intent must be a personality trait of that whose image we were created from. Maybe if we climbed down off of our high horse, such notions would disappear altogether.
There is another consideration as well. We humans like to pretend that we have some measure of control over the situation. If only we could behave in externally prescribed ways, then there would no longer be natural disasters. From this unrealistic perspective, perfect people would usher in a perfect world; one bereft of pain, suffering and misery.
Personally, I don't think this would make one wit of difference. In fact, I'd love to see a day when every person in the world was being perfectly perfect and yet a bolt of lightening or a tsunami descended on a portion of this idyllic perfection. How would the religious authorities deal with that circumstance?
It astonishes me that people in this day and age are still attributing disasters to God. It isn't even the God-of-the-gaps thing anymore, it's just blatantly ignoring everything we've learned over the past 400 years since science got up and running again.
ReplyDeleteI live in Christchurch New Zealand, which recently suffered the effects of a 7.1 earthquake. A fundamentalist stated loudly that we should all repent - the damage done to the 'red light district' was prrof of God's displeasure and direct action. A quick reply someone sent in was a request for someone to find a church that hadn't also been damaged by the quake in which to do the repenting...
ReplyDeleteSince God is the supreme being, He can very well do what he likes. a true God isn't bound by our logic and science -or what we think how He should behave. if He can command nature to wipe out a large number of humans, then He he can also affect nature to grow food for our survival.
ReplyDelete-by the way, i recently stumbled into this site…i enjoy the thoughtful posts about the tao, thanks.