Just Above Sunset
January 16, 2005 - What is God Up To These Days?
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Knight
Ridder reports on Christian evangelical groups who see the recent Pacific tsunami as "a phenomenal opportunity" and the answer to prayer,
with one group actively planning to "to build 'Christian communities' to replace destroyed seashore villages." Ah,
God’s plan. Wipe out a few hundred thousand heathens to show them God wants
them to be evangelical Christians. It was a set up! Cool. And
Media Matters documents Catholic League president William A. Donohue as having called the tsunami "these poor Asian people['s] ... gift to the world." Huh? Ah, God’s plan. He’s showing
his power and humbling us all, so we’ll worship him more. Cool. Heather
MacDonald in SLATE.COM has a different view. She thinks it's time for believers
to take a more proactive role in world events. She’s calling for a boycott. Send a Message to God: He has gone too far this time. Heather
MacDonald, Monday, Jan. 10, 2005, SLATE.COM Centuries of uncritical worship have clearly produced a monster. God knows that he can sit passively by while human
life is wantonly mowed down, and the next day, churches, synagogues, and mosques will be filled with believers thanking him
for allowing the survivors to survive. The faithful will ask him to heal the wounded, while ignoring his failure to prevent
the disaster in the first place. They will excuse his unwillingness to stave off destruction with alibis ("God wasn't there
when the tsunami hit"—Suketu Mehta) and relativising ("for each victim tens of thousands yet live"—Russell Seitz),
even if those excuses contradict God's other attributes, such as omnipresence or love for each individual life. Where is God's incentive to behave? He gets credit for the good things and no blame for the bad. Former U.S. Attorney
General John Ashcroft is fond of thanking God for keeping America safe since 9/11; Ashcroft never asks why, if God has fended
off terrorist strikes since 9/11, he let the hijackers on the planes on the day itself. Was God caught off guard the first
time around, like the U.S. government? But he is omniscient and omnipotent. Good questions.
You know when a steroid-pumped, overpaid, speed-addled NFL running back scores a touchdown he points to the sky and
publicly pantomimes his thanks to God. But when he is rudely slammed to the ground
four yards short, does he raise his fist and curse God? No. Quite odd. So
what is God responsible for? Successes are His and failures are ours? That seems to be the general idea. That makes no sense. MacDonald
is puzzled too: So slavishly do his worshipers flatter God that they give him credit for things he didn't even do. Let a man rape
and murder a child, and it's the man's offense; but if someone tends to the sick or shares his wealth, it's God's hand at
work. The Most Rev. Gabino Zavala from the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese rejects any suggestion that God forsook
the tsunami victims, according to the Los Angeles Times, but he credits God with the subsequent charity: "You can see
God in the people's response—how they're reaching out." Huh? God
had nothing to do with the massive death and destruction, but everything to do with the subsequent relief efforts? One could argue he had everything to do with the former, and man, not God, had everything to do with the
latter. That is logical, but cynical. And if it is so, then why is it so? The answer?
MacDonald thinks the problem is God is spoiled. And it’s time to
let him know there are limits. Thus a boycott. It is a sad fact of human relations
that unqualified adulation often produces from the adored one contempt and a kick in the chops, rather than gratitude and
kindness. Apparently, the same applies to human-divine relations. So, let the human race play hard to get. Imagine God's discombobulation if, after the next mass slaughter of human
life, the hymns of praise and incense do not rise up. He checks the Sunday census; the pews are empty. Week after week, the
churches and mosques are unattended; the usual gratitude for his not wiping out even more innocent children does not pour
forth. He starts to worry. Has he gone too far this time? Maybe he should've exercised his much heralded powers of intervention,
the same powers that his erstwhile worshipers presupposed every time they prayed for him to cure a cancer victim, or get them
into law school. And so, no longer guaranteed an adoring public, he starts to make nice. He calls back avalanches poised to wipe out
whole villages; he brings rain to drought-stricken communities; he cures fatally handicapped babies in the womb, or prevents
such flawed conceptions before they happen. He presents tokens of his love to malaria victims and children paralyzed by auto
accidents. Africa blooms with peace and prosperity. It might not work. But the "I'm rotten-You're divine" syndrome isn't too functional, either. It's worth a try; there
is nothing to lose. Worth
a try? No one will try. Too dangerous. He might wipe out more innocent folks. Why
risk it? Don’t tick Him off. __ Also
in these pages see April 4, 2004: The GOD Franchise - Who Owns the Trademark? In it you will find a reference to Randy Newman’s “God’s Song” - Man
means nothing he means less to me He’s
laughing. God is - not Randy. And
note that here you can buy this bumper sticker. And
I’ll burn in hell for this column. |
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This issue updated and published on...
Paris readers add nine hours....
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