The Problem of Evil: A Reflection in the Wake of the Asian Tsunami
"natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis, which are the result of the laws of nature, are part of God’s plan for the world."
A really thought provoking piece from Edmond Eh on The Prompt webzine. It's seven months behind the tragedy, but still as poignant.
It also makes reference to an earlier post about whether Archbishop gave a proper reply when asked by the media how the Catholic faith reconciles their belief in a good god with all that suffering.
Another old post on this blog on the Asian Tsunami: Why God 'allowed' deadly tsunami to strike.
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Something Does Not Love Us
John Garvey
THE REALITY OF EVIL
Evil is a word that disturbs most of us. Secular people are put off by its theological overtones; many religious people are rightly concerned with the way it is too frequently used about others, and seldom about ourselves. And this discomfort takes place in a society in which a belief in the reality of evil (seen as something transcendent, something with power) is considered a quaint superstitious remnant, and is equated with, say, the denial of evolution or a belief in fairies.
But then disasters like the recent tsunami happen, and atheists say to believers, “Explain this! If God is good, how can this...terrible thing happen?” They see it as, well, an evil, or anyway something so horrible that it seems to rule out the idea of transcendent or even immanent goodness. Better an ultimately meaningless universe than one with such apparent contradictions.
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