The tsunami has created an interesting market for puff pieces. Take this incredibly offensive little story in the St. Petersburg Times:
I want to thank the following people for their realtively reasoned and patient responses (some of course, were more helpful than others) to the absolutely LUDICROUS question of “Why did God let this happen?”
Rao Davuluri, manager of Hindu Temple of Florida, Carrollwood
The Rev. Robert Schneider, pastor of Espiritu Santo Catholic Church, Safety Harbor
Eric Yasin, assistant imam of St. Petersburg Islamic Center
The Rev. Frederick Ohsiek, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Citrus County
The Rev. Kokkavita Wipulasara, Florida Buddhist Vihara, Tampa
The Rev. Abhi Janamanchi, Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater
Dr. Mohan Singh, high priest, Sikh Gurdwara, Thonotosassa
And to the following people, shame, shame shame on you!
The Rev. Bernard Smith, Greene Chapel AME Church, Largo, for makign the appalling and DISGUSTING statment that the tsunami drowned “disbelievers” like Hindus, Muslims and “movie stars and models.” Your ignorance and bigotry is phenomenal, and truly hateful in the face of the tragedy undergone by so many thousands of people on this planet. I dearly hope you read the article and listen very carefully to the words spoken by your spirtual brothers, Schneider and Ohsiek (for I know it will be far beyond you to heed the advice of Yasin, who claims the devastation affects all humanity). As a Christian, it is your duty to come to the aid of your human neighbors, not tell them they deserved what they got! I wish I could feel more anger for you, but truly, I primarily feel sadness and pity, for you as well as those whom you shepherd.
Ed Golly, chairman of Atheists of Florida, Tampa, for daring to suggest that the offhand comment that someone made about “a disaster of biblical proportions” was a cause for you to deny the existence of God based on a denouncement of fundamentalist Christianity. As one can easily see from the variety and breadth of responses in the article, there is no one way to see the workings of God. Not everyone’s deity is the God of Noah, and of those who do follow that system of belief, not all of them ascribe to biblical fundamentalism. Natural phenomenons that were once used to PROVE the existence of God do not disprove it now, buddy boy, and you sound a little bit whiny about the whole situation, since you expect God to be loving and compassionate. You make a pretty poor atheist, my boy, since you aimed your stings against Judeo-Christian fundamentalism and not the idea of god, and thence made no headway for your case, and came off sounding like a whiny little boy who is angry at his parent for not always making the right choice.
I leave you with these comments from the brilliant wit of the late, great Douglas Adams.
“I will not prove that I exist,” says God, “because truth denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.”
“But,” says man, “The Babel Fish is a dead giveway. Nothing so perfect and useful could have evolved purely by chance. It *proves* you exist, and so, by your own argument, you don’t.”
“Oh,” says God, “I never thought of that.” And he disappears in a puff of logic.
I hate this article. I hate that such venomous beings are allowed to spew their filth over my morning tea. DAMN YOU, FIRST AMENDMENT! On the flip side, it got me thinking about the spiritual consequences of the whole situation. In this world, humans can’t think of anything better to do than kill one another. This is becoming more obvious every day. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were reminded that although we have the power to destroy our planet, it can deliver some pretty hefty wallops itself? Wouldn’t it be nice if such horrific disasters made us see that there are evils we can’t control, adn there are evils we can, and we’d all be so much better off if we did so and presented a united front against the perils of nature, life and an angry God? Sorry for the maudlin philosophy. I can’t stand opportunists, bigots and emotional vampires who make a bad situation worse.
To quote my man Yasim up there: “We should respond to the charities. Give money. Give blood. It’s not a Christian thing, a Jewish thing, a Muslim thing. It’s about humanity.”
Amen to that!
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