Tuesday, January 04, 2005
The Tsunami, Wrath of God ?
"How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?"
Dr.Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
The Observer (London) reported that Dr. Williams voiced this question in a statement on January 2, 2005. Probably many devouts are struggling with the issue but feel diffident about speaking out aloud. Dr. Williams' eminent position allowed him to do so.
On the flip side, there is Koenig's International News, an organ of "Christian News". The masthead on the web site shows images of President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon. Two champions of God and justice.
Jose Antonio Vargas in an article in The Washington Post on on 12/31/04, mentioned that Mr. Koenig wrote about "miraculous survival" by Christians. Mr. Koenig was not the only one to think about the tsunami being God's retribution. Shlomo Amar, Israel's Sephardi chief rabbi, mentioned "God's great ire with the world",and some Hindu organizations in India associated the tsunami with arrest (on charge of murder) of a popular Hindu leader! IslamonLine.net also raised enquiries along the same lines. Talk about strange bedfellows.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1382249,00.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37677-2004Dec30.html
http://watch.org/
http://islamoneline.net/english/index.shtml
According to reports in the BBC, more than 3,000 European tourists died while vacationing in the affected areas. I suppose they were considered "collateral damage" by Mr. Koenig's God or they were not true believers and thus did not qualify for miraculous protection. How could they....their nations have high taxation and cradle to grave health care. Socialists !
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"In our country are evangelists and zealots of many different political, economic and religious persuasions whose fanatical conviction is that all thought is divinely classified into two kinds-that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous."
--- Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954)
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The Summer of '42
In my post dated December 6, 2004, I listed a few books that I thought were great "coming of age" stories. I had missed one that certainly belonged to that group. Herman Raucher's poignant "Summer of '42".
For all book lovers, those who are young as well as those who were young once.
