Katrina, God, and the Problem of Evil

CRISIS Magazine e-Letter

September 2, 2005

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Dear Friend,

It leaves one numb. Bodies lying uncovered in the streets... looters
stealing from their neighbors... victims unconscious from
dehydration, sprawled across an abandoned highway... thugs shooting
at rescue workers... hospitals without electricity, or gas, or food,
or water. This is New Orleans and coastal Mississippi today. Right
now.

Hurricane Katrina may prove to be the worst natural disaster in the
history of our country, and the death count could stretch to the
thousands. Let us pray for the victims, for their families, and for
our nation.

And let us help. Here's a link to do just that:

http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/katrina.cfm

Catholic Charities -- along with several other aid organizations --
is working heroically to help the victims of Katrina. Most of us
can't be there to help directly, so let's support those who can.

But the horror in the South raises some fundamental questions. First
in mind is a simple one: Where was God when this happened?

Or another: How could an all-knowing, all-good God have allowed this
human tragedy? (Or the typhoon in the Pacific? Or the Holocaust?)

There's a danger in trying to answer questions like these --
especially at a time of great national sadness. You see, an answer
that is theologically and philosophically correct may not be
emotionally satisfying. And so platitudes are spoken and though they
may be true, they answer the wrong question. Those who suffer do so
personally, not in an abstract sense. And so, victims ask not "Why
does God allow suffering," but "Why was my child pulled from my arms
by the water?"

The only answer we can offer right now is, "I don't know, and I'm so
deeply sorry." Anything more than that takes the person's unique
sorrow and transforms it into an object lesson for a larger
principle. There will come a time to explain the compatibility of
natural evil with the existence of a loving and sovereign God. But
this is not that time.

For now, let us pray for the victims, help them where we can, and
join them in their sadness.

Brian



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