The Great Tsunami...Was God Involved

Why, God, why?
By Phil Kloer - Cox News Service

ATLANTA - It's one of the first questions a child asks, and one that recurs throughout our lives: Why?

Why does God, whom many believe to be all-powerful and benevolent, allow so much pain and suffering? Throughout wide swaths of southern Asia right now, the death toll from Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis keeps climbing with no end in sight.

"Events like this always have been a great test of faith for people, who ask 'Where is God?' " said Dennis McCann, professor of religious studies at Agnes Scott College and a former Catholic priest.

"Whether it's personal tragedies or massive tragedies like this one," McCann continued, "it becomes pretty clear that if you are a believer, part of the process of growing in faith is struggling with what experience is teaching you: That if God is good, the goodness of God is not tailored to our personal convenience or our personal desires.

"Orthodox Christians such as myself have to recognize that if God is all-powerful, there's no point in denying that God is involved in the sufferings of this Earth. What you have to have is faith and trust that there is a purpose."

With such a huge, age-old question looming over the tragedy in Asia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked representatives of a variety of faiths and philosophies to reflect on what their faith tells them when facing this kind of tragedy. These are edited versions of their responses.

What they're saying

• Archbishop John Donoghue of Atlanta, Roman Catholic:

"In any kind of tragedy, whether like this tsunami or any natural disaster where so many lives are lost, we have to turn to our faith. If we really believe what our faith tells us, that Jesus Christ came and died for our sins, he didn't promise us that this life is going to be perfect. He promised that we would have difficulties. He himself suffered and died; he didn't have it easy.

"As Christians and followers of Christ, we shouldn't expect anything different for ourselves. We hope that we will be able to deal with it, but only because we have faith in God. If we didn't have this faith, we would have nothing. We would be struggling and on our own. People who don't have any faith at all have nothing when tragedy strikes in their lives. That's why faith is so important."

• Rabbi Efry Spectre, Ahavat Achim Synagogue, Atlanta:

"We as Jews are concerned more with action than with thought. You can't speak for all Jews at any one time, but for the most part, we are a people who believe that God created a world that was good and ever-developing and gave the human being the great gift of free will. It's up to us to be partners with God in bettering the world. We're supposed to use our minds and our hearts to try to reduce the chaos that was part of creation. If we use our hearts and our minds to do this, then the time will come when we can better predict these terrible weather situations.

"The question can be asked: 'Why did God allow these things to come about?' I don't believe in a God that zapped tens of thousands of people last week. But I believe God set a world in motion with weather patterns and other things that it's our business to work with and try to come to terms with."

• Soumaya Khalifa, executive director of the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta, part of the Islamic Network Group:

"The Islamic perspective is that God is the master of the universe. Anything that happens, Muslims look upon it as a test. Muslims also believe that at the day of judgment, the deeds of all people will be looked at. When a test is given such as this, their reaction is what they will be, if you will, graded on. Were they patient and thanking God, or were they thinking, 'Why me? This is unfair.'

"The other thing is that Muslims look at everything as 'nothing is all bad or all good,' so when something happens that on the surface might be perceived as awful, there might be some positive aspects. We don't know what, but that is part of God's master plan that we are not aware of.

"From the Muslim perspective it's horrible, your heart bleeds. But a person should step back and wonder: What positive can come of this?"

• Robert White, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention:

"We're very saddened by this grave tragedy and extend our sympathies to everyone. Speaking as a Christian, Christians have their hope and faith in Jesus Christ, and we believe that through Jesus Christ we have received eternal life. Those who died who were Christians did so with the assurance they would go to heaven; they will be in heaven with Jesus Christ eternally.

"Whether a disaster happens when you're on an airliner or in a fire or a hurricane, if your faith and hope is in Jesus Christ you know that should you die, you will live eternally in heaven. That is a tremendous comfort for people who have faith in Christ.

"As to why this kind of thing happens, that's the perennial question. We live in an imperfect world. The issue is not whether disaster will strike us or sadness will come, but are we prepared spiritually for that moment?"

• Aruna Prasad Kancherla, incoming president of the Hindu Temple of Atlanta:

"With the tragedy that happened in India and other countries ... we are just trying to help the victims out at this time. Through our temple we are trying to raise funds, and we are doing prayers for the future welfare of all the victims.

"We do not ask why God is doing this, why is he punishing humanity. We don't think he's the one doing this. We just take God as a parent to us. He knows how to take care of his children. We do not question what has happened, but we believe God is there to take care of his people when they are in difficulties with disasters like this."

• Venerable Panamwela Wajirabuddhi of the Georgia Buddhist Vihara (Temple) in Lithonia, Ga.:

"One of the basic teachings of Lord Buddha is that everything is not permanent. This gives you a sense of proportion and a way to connect with your own life and feelings. If everything is impermanent, it means that every person in this world is subject to death. As Buddhists we believe people can face death without fear because they know what the real situation of life is, which is impermanence."

• Ed Buckner, southern U.S. director for the Council for Secular Humanism:

"I understand that for some religious people it stirs deep questions for which there are no easy answers. For a secular humanist who doesn't believe in a supernatural explanation for anything, it is easier in some ways to take events like this. We don't ask questions like 'How could God let this happen?' since we don't believe there is a God.

"To people who think we are not compassionate or not moral, we feel great compassion for our fellow human beings who are suffering unimaginable agony right now. It's not exclusively a Christian impulse to want to reach out and help."