God is a terrorist

I am no theologian (fortunately). That will become more evident throughout this post.

God is a terrorist (IF she/he/it even exists, which is very doubtful).

Witness the recent devastation wrought in Haiti by a powerful earthquake. Schools, hospitals, houses, buildings all flattened with no regard for life. Haiti is one of the poorest nations on the planet and is ill-equipped to deal with such a catastrophe.

Some people say that God is all-powerful and controls everything. If so, then God caused this earthquake in Haiti (or at the absolute minimum allowed it to happen), and thousands of presumably innocent people have died or will die in the coming hours and days. Therefore, God is a terrorist. He caused the deaths of unsuspecting thousands. These same people will say that God works in mysterious ways. Fine. He just killed thousands without warning. That's what a terrorist would do.

Some others say that God created the world and then let it develop (the really bold will say "evolve"). Well, therefore, God created the forces that were unleashed in this earthquake in Haiti. This image of God is rather impotent in the face of events. If he created everything, then earthquakes are a part of that creation, and thousands just died in one of Gods creations. Therefore, God is a terrorist.

There is another group of people who don't really have an active faith in a God at all, but still feel like some sort of intelligent force either created the world or is lurking out there, somewhere, and he has no direct influence in the world. Again, he put all this in motion, and earthquakes are certainly part of that motion, so in effect, God just killed all those people in Haiti. God is a random terrorist.

No doubt, over the next few days or so, we will hear some heart-warming stories of people who will have survived amid the rubble in Haiti, against all odds. Some of them will probably praise God for sparing their lives. Well....what about those he didn't spare?

It is always striking (and telling) to me when someone survives a natural disaster and credits their survival to God. Just don't think about your neighbor across the street who had their house smashed by God's tornado and was killed - God was looking out for the survivor, he obviously didn't care about that jerk across the street, or their 6-month-old baby. Sounds like terrorism.

Is this type of thing, this earthquake in Haiti, just another "test of our faith?" Would God actually kill thousands of people in one part of the world just to test the faith of someone or everyone else? How cold-blooded and callous can you get? Why would anyone trust in such a God? This God will inspire terror and death just to test faith? Sounds like a terrorist.

And if God simply has no control over anything on earth, then what good is he? Why pray to that? What kind of power would a God have if all he could do would be to sit around and watch events unfold?

No matter what, people will cling to the God-belief. In the face of all evidence, they will cling to it. Even if the Muslim countries are the poorest and most sociologically backward on Earth, people will cling to Islam and consider it the "one true religion."

Even if dirt-poor Africans die of AIDS or TB or malaria or other preventable diseases, they will cling to their pantheon of Gods, sometimes animalistic Gods. Even if missionaries convert them to Christ or Muhammed, they will still die needlessly.

So what does your God look like? The mere fact that "God" can take so many forms dependent upon where you were born or what religion your parents were, or what crowd you have joined, does not speak well for the omnipotence of any God. For a million people, there will be close to a million different interpretations of what God is. Where's the sense in that?

And then we have fundamentalists, or Pentacostals, or other such splinter groups, insisting that the United States establish prayer in school or post the Ten Commandments all over everyones forehead, as if these acts will magically transform the culture. They have just as strange a formulation of God as anyone else. They must be beaten back.

Some people cannot seem to grasp (or choose not to grasp) a world without a God of some kind. I guess the reality, that we are but tiny specks on a violent world amid a violent universe is just too much for some to bear. It's too painful and random. (Plus, it would take away a lot of their power base.)

Much better to put your faith in some unseen benevolent force, even if that unseen force just slaughtered hundreds or thousands right in front of their eyes. Don't think. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Just don't try to force that feckless faith on me, ok? And we'll get along just fine.

Oh, here's yet another example of the persistence of the God-belief. Just imagine if EVERYONE had just SAT there and trusted in God.