The tsunami disaster makes Christians wonder if there is a God * A question from representatives of different faiths

The two main currents in the Christian world presented different interpretations to deal with the consequences of the disaster in East Asia. Catholics: Even in times of trial God does not abandon us. The Anglicans: It is advisable to ask questions

Aggregation of information from various sources

Direct link to this page: https://www.hayadan.org.il/godtsunami040105.html

Update 13/1/05 at the end of the article

The representatives of the religions explain the disaster - a special project of the BBC
Translation: Avi Blizovsky
4/1/2005

Hindu - Rani Moorthy (Moorthy) - actress and writer

The tsunami brings to mind the personal and collective destiny for Hindus. In the later terms, we were born in the age of destruction known as the Kali Yuga, an age that will last at least a thousand years. This means that we have to go through a series of setbacks, obstacles, suffering such as AIDS, and a cluster of natural disasters when nature shows us its malevolent side. Humanity must go through all this in order to renew itself.
As for my personal destiny, in the Hindu religion there is no central text like in other religions, so everyone has to understand it according to their own understanding, based on the Brahman - the heavenly - and the belief that one day we will all be saved from the endless cycle of death and birth and return to our creator. To my faith, I am connected to all human beings, and while I mourn those who died in the tsunami, I do not feel sorrow for them because they are part of me and part of heaven. Their death is the embodiment of their karma, their destiny, the duties and privileges they have passed through their series of lives.

Christianity - Paul Chitness (CHITNESS) - CEO of the Scottish Catholic Aid Fund

In this time of judgment, we are constantly looking for someone to blame and in the absence of a specific person we blame God for events caused by his nature. The puzzle is why the world is full of inequality, but I don't buy the argument that God just sits there and pulls the strings of human destiny for fun. In the case of the tsunami, we as Christians are called to the challenge of the response. We know that Jesus is among us, living this reality because he said that whatever you do to your brothers and sisters, you do to me. But the other side of the coin is that if you fail to do it to them, you also fail to do it to Jesus. So far, at least, we have found no desire in our responses. Christian churches should be at the forefront of rescue efforts.

Buddhism - why LAMA OLE NYDAHL

We will all die sooner or later, some have the conditions for a long life and some for a short life. This is your karma - the total effect of one's actions. What characterized the tsunami was that many people clustered together had karma for short lives, which is perhaps the reason why these areas were overpopulated.
The shifting of the tectonic plates is inevitable but if there were few people in these areas the result would be the loss of less human life. When we watched the news on TV, read the newspapers or thought about the tsunami, we think of the Buddha we would like the most - perhaps the Red Buddha, the Buddha of the Limitless Light. We do this so that when those who died in the disaster wake up from the shock of death - we believe it takes about three days - they will send to the Buddha that came to our mind. The Buddhists believe that the soul is indestructible, and therefore after a while if the person wants and it is possible they will get the opportunity to be reborn in society as beings who help others.

Islam - IQBAL SACRANIE - Secretary General of the Muslim Council in Great Britain

The teaching of Islam is that the event happened according to the will of Almighty God, but the positive side is the way humanity reacted. People will ask why this happened, why such a huge loss of human life occurred, but in this aspect it is beyond our understanding and therefore we must believe that such a disaster, everything that happens in nature is due to God's will. Allah knows better than us.
We certainly have the right to ask questions. This is the time for us to ask about ourselves, our action, our deed, and we can reflect on it. It's a sign that none of us are going to live in an uncertain time, so it's a sign for us to do something positive. Death happens all the time. When a person is born one thing is certain - death - but in what form it will come is something beyond us. People of faith should trust God, that at the end of the day everything is done according to His will and for the good of humanity as a whole.

Atheism - Han Stinson - CEO of the British Humanist Association

Religions cannot provide explanations for the tsunami, and while prayers for the victims may comfort the worshipers, they do not provide practical assistance to the people whose lives were destroyed by the horrific disaster.

Science can explain the phenomena of earthquakes and tsunamis, even if it cannot yet predict when and where they will occur. Our response to these and other disasters, as compassionate people, and regardless of our faith or lack of faith, must be to provide all the help we can.
Belief in God cannot protect people from disasters or give victims what they need to survive and rebuild their lives. We need to accept responsibility for all other human beings. We must devote efforts to practical ways to prevent disasters when we can, prepare for disasters we cannot prevent, including investing in tsunami early warning systems, and help those affected by disasters. We cannot rely on any god to solve the world's problems. We - the humans of the world - are the only hope of humanity.
For news at the BBC

Archbishop of Canterbury: The tsunami disaster makes Christians question whether there is a God

The leaders of two major currents in the Christian world yesterday presented different interpretations of the theological response to the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia. The Pope, John Paul II, said that faith actually helps during such disasters, because it reminds the sufferers of God's constant presence.

"Faith teaches us that even in the most difficult and painful testing times, such as the disasters that have befallen Southeast Asia these days, God never abandons us," said the head of the Catholic Church in a speech he delivered from the window of his office to thousands of pilgrims and tourists who gathered in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City in Rome.

The Pope again called on the international community to help the victims of the tsunami waves that hit resorts and villages along the coasts of the Indian Ocean in several Asian countries. On New Year's Eve, the Pope held a special mass in his private church, and offered a prayer in memory of the tens of thousands who perished in the disaster and for the survivors and aid workers.

Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said yesterday, however, that the tsunami disaster causes all Christians to ask themselves difficult questions regarding the existence of God. In the words published in the British newspaper "Sunday Telegraph", the archbishop said that "it would be wrong" if the faith is not "shaken" as a result of the disaster in Asia, which has so far cost the lives of more than 150 thousand people. Prayer, he admits, does not provide "magic solutions" and most of the pre-prepared Christian answers to human suffering "do not help us, a week after the disaster, to deal with the unbearable sorrow and destruction in front of us."

Dr. Williams, who in his role as head of the Anglican Church represents 70 million Anglican Christians worldwide, wrote: "Every accidental and purposeless death is something that should shake the faith wrapped in comfort and ready-made answers in advance. In dealing with the overwhelming magnitude of such a disaster, we naturally feel more anger - but also a deeper helplessness." Williams added, that "hence the question, 'How do you believe in a God who allows suffering on such a scale?' heard in many parts of the world right now, and it would be surprising if it wasn't. It would be wrong if it wasn't so." According to the archbishop, in the face of facing such a terrible challenge to their faith in God, Christians must focus on "the life that remains".

Now we hate the sea

By Sokto Mehta, Wall Street Journal Europe

It was as if God had deliberately tempted His followers to go to the sea; He hit them when they approached him

Hindu prayer in memory of the victims in Allahabad, India. Who are the dead? what are their names How did they like or hate? And where was God when it happened?

Last January I went to Sri Lanka to write an article about the return of tourism to the island, after 20 years of civil war. The article was published in July in an American tourism magazine, and following it readers wrote to me that they were planning to go there this winter. Now I'm haunted by thoughts: what if they perished in the tsunami this week? Do the survivors feel that it would have been better if they had never come across my article?

This is the irrational calculation that such an event evokes, because most of us have no way to explain it. The sea off the coast of Sri Lanka seems so his own, endlessly beautiful, one that is incapable of harm. Then, on Sunday, it soared to a height of 12 meters, into a cloudless sky. "We loved the sea. We lived by the sea. Now we hate to see this sea," said K. Mahalingam, an Indian fisherman who lost four members of his family, 28 fishermen who worked for him and all eight of his fishing boats.

So far tens of thousands have been killed in the riots. who are they? what are their names How did they like or hate? And where was God when it happened?

"God saved me, but why?" said a 9-year-old boy named Sobhani to a journalist, after his mother and older sister drowned before his eyes, while he watched what was happening helplessly. Six months earlier the boy had lost his father.

In Sri Lanka there are gods in rocks, trees, sky and sea. This time of the month, when the moon is full, is considered good for bathing for both Hindus and Muslims. The 40 days of repentance of the local Ayyapa believers have just ended. Their custom is to bathe in the sea after shaving their heads. On the beach there were also crowds of Christian celebrants, who came for the holidays. It was almost as if God had deliberately tempted His followers to go to the sea; He hit them when they approached him.

In one Indian village, a fisherman named Sanu returned from the sea with his daughter Akama, 18, and his son Lothuraju, 14. They were sitting on the quiet shore in the morning sorting their catch. All three were dragged into the sea by the waves. Sano threw his son into a small boat and a wave pushed them back to shore. So the father returned to the raging sea to save his daughter; They both drowned in another huge wave.

Some of the survivors now live with the worst feelings of guilt, for choosing between their children: a boy over a girl, a healthy child instead of a sick one, smart and not slow. The sea allowed them to hold only one or two of their children. The rest drifted away, crying out to their parents, their eyes showing the agony of knowing this last betrayal, which was not the betrayal of the sea.

In disasters in the third world, pornography of photographs of famine, floods, war and earthquakes is practiced. Brief television interviews with the victims reinforce this. And as with all pornography, its effect is this: the victims lose their personality and humanity. It is easier to keep a distance between us and those whose lives we have no idea about. They look so foreign - all these browns and blacks, poor people like them. That way it's easier to forget them, when our attention shifts to another fresh disaster somewhere, or to the courtroom drama of some celebrity here in our country. Such disasters are often used to reinforce the feeling that our destiny has improved us. "We may have marriage problems, honey, but at least we're not those people."

In a twisted way, it is perhaps a blessing that some of the victims were tourists from rich countries. "At least eight Americans among the dead," declared a headline from the AP agency this week. and 40 thousand others. But this title gave the tragedy a recognizable face. When John and Suzanne, a couple on their honeymoon, tell how they almost drowned, it becomes easier to empathize with Poonama and Yamal, who are crying for the child who was torn from their arms by the sea. Not only the fishermen in the beach huts perished; The grandson of the king of Thailand also perished. Just as there is a better chance of improving conditions in prisons when the rich and powerful are sent to them, so the chances of a disaster-stricken area getting help are improved if "people like us" are among the victims.

The long-term effects could be worse than the tsunami itself. UN officials estimate that this could be the most expensive disaster in history, because the victims are among the most populous countries. The health infrastructure in most of these countries is not sufficiently developed. Epidemics will spread in the drinking water contaminated by rotting corpses. Malaria, diarrhea and lung diseases will run rampant. Many thousands more will die.

Imagine that you have just seen your little daughter washed out to sea, while you watch from the shore, screaming and helpless. You only have one child left, and only the compassion of governments or aid organizations that will take care of purifying the water will be able to prevent his death as well. In these countries live poor people who do their best to help themselves. Jan Egeland, head of the UN's emergency aid agency, noted that the local aid agencies have shown "impressive resourcefulness". He wondered about the reaction of the rich countries: "I understand why they are so stingy."

There is only one way to restore a measure of trust, hope and faith to these people who have lost everything. God was not there when the tsunami hit, but God is in us. Let us ensure that his love is passed on now, better late than never. We must reach out and help Subhani and Sanu and Mahalingam to maintain their sanity and the feeling that morality has not passed away.

More important than the scope of aid is the simple gesture - a human hand extended across the ocean with money, medicine, or some technical skill. In its own way, this hand is as powerful, resilient and invincible as the tsunami itself.

* The writer is a writer born in India. The article was originally published in the "Wall Street Journal Europe"

Does that mean anything?

By Yair Shelag

Will the disaster bring closer to religion or further away? Do Buddhists have it easier? And will they remember him at all?

Cuddalore in southern India, Tuesday. Ravitzky: "Our attempt to hold on to the value of human dignity suffers a severe blow in the face of the sight of thousands of corpses"

Photo: IP

Even in the secular Western world, one of the first questions that a natural disaster of the magnitude that happened this week in Southeast Asia raises is the questioning in the religious field (perhaps due to the human need to "blame someone"). The British newspaper "Guardian" has already managed to publish an article this week (which was published the other day in "Haaretz"), according to which disasters of this type first of all provoke the secular challenge to the religious worldview, along the lines of: How can one believe in God if His actions are questioned?

Prof. Michael Harsgur, a retired historian from Tel Aviv University (himself a very secular person), says that this type of reaction to natural disasters characterizes all of human history, "as in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy in 79 AD, which buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum under it. The pagan belief of the people of the time interpreted this as an expression of the jealousy of the gods for the good life they led in these cities. Many Jews, however, over time explained this disaster as a punishment for the destruction of the Temple nine years earlier by Emperor Titus, who ruled Rome at the time of the disaster in Pompeii. In retrospect, the religious explanation was very useful to science, because because of it the Romans said to themselves 'if it is the wrath of the gods, don't touch the place'. They left Pompeii as it is, which allowed archaeologists from the 18th century to find ashes that preserved the shape of the bodies."

Another acute connection between natural disasters and religion is found in the great earthquake that struck Lisbon in 1755. Hersgur: "It was on November 1, 'All Saints' Day,' the day when all Catholic churches are full. And indeed, all the churches collapsed and all the believers were killed. On the other hand, the prostitutes' quarter in Lisbon, which was built on solid rock, did not collapse, so only the prostitutes and their customers were saved. To this day, church people struggle to explain this discrepancy. One of the explanations was that the disaster came as a punishment for the fact that the prime minister of Portugal at the time, Pombal, was anti-religious and expelled the Jesuits from the country."

In any case, the disaster in Lisbon was used by the educated rationalists of that time, who were then at their peak, in their attack against religion; One of the most prominent of them, the philosopher Walter, even wrote a special anti-religious treatise on the meaning of the disaster. However, Hersgur also estimates that the current disaster will not provoke a similar reaction, simply "because the secular-educated attack on religion has already taken place".

On the other hand, Rabbi Israel Lau, the former chief rabbi, estimates that disasters such as the one that occurred this week actually cause religious strengthening: "I remember the images after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, of crowds gathering in the streets in prayers and in search of human warmth. People in such difficult situations are looking for an address - human warmth and even more, a connection with the Creator of the world, something that will light their way in the darkness."

Prof. Avi Ravitzky, a lecturer on Israeli thought at the Hebrew University, believes that such disasters strengthen extreme reactions in all directions, not necessarily in the religious direction: "Every person who has lost a loved one - either he prays a lot or it is difficult for him to pray. Even after the Holocaust, some became stronger in their prayer and some found it difficult to pray. A crisis causes extreme reactions, which are sometimes only temporary".

According to him, "as much as the reaction of defiance (against the faith, XNUMX) is understandable in terms of the existential feeling, it has no justification from a philosophical point of view. We are disaster scholars and know that this is the nature of the world. After all, the wars and the killing by human hands exact even much heavier prices - whether it is in the Holocaust, the massacre in Rwanda or 'even' in the two wars in Iraq. So what, shall we give up on humanism and belief in man? If anything, what discourages following such disasters is not faith in God, but faith in the image of God. Our persistent attempt to maintain the value of human dignity suffers a severe blow in the face of the sight of thousands of corpses lying in piles and being led to a mass burial."

Not so fatalistic

Do the cultures in the countries where the disaster occurred digest disasters of this type differently than Western culture? First, it must be emphasized that this is a large variety of cultures: India is mostly Hindu, Thailand is Buddhist and Indonesia is generally Muslim. In addition, it turns out that the Western image, which attributes to Hinduism and Buddhism a fatalistic acceptance with reality, takes on a more complex face in reality.

As Dr. Agastya Sharma, a lecturer in Indian philosophy at Rajaspan University in northwest India, says: "We need to distinguish between what tradition tells us, and how people really react. It is true that in our tradition there is determinism. If something happened, it means it had to happen, and to whom it happened - if not because of things he did today, then because of things he did in a previous incarnation. People may also quote these sayings, but I don't think they really mean it. There are natural and scientific explanations for the disaster and people know them and will not really follow determinism."

Dr. Danny Reva, a lecturer in Indian philosophy at Tel Aviv University, is even more harsh: "Our whole deterministic image of these cultures is a Western 'orientalist' image. It is convenient for us to think that it is easy for them to accept what cannot be accepted. It is true that their philosophy does not put everyday life at the center, and says that the known always drowns in the ocean of the unknown. This is actually the way of religion, of all religions, to overcome everyday difficulties, but everyday still has its difficult power. However, I don't think there will be any 'anti-religious' defiance, along the lines of 'how did God do this to us?' These are western concepts. In any case, there is no distinction there between religious and secular, and religion also puts man, and not God, at the center."

does anyone care

Prof. Shlomo Avineri, political science lecturer from the Hebrew University, refers to the disaster in terms of Western-Third World relations: "The newspapers report how 'Paradise' has turned into hell. The problem is that the western tourists do not see at all that even before, this paradise was only for them, and does not reflect the life of terrible poverty that is next to them. Second, it's worth remembering that if it weren't for Western tourism, the scope of the disaster would probably have been much smaller. Originally, these were areas of small fishing villages. Only Western tourism has resulted in the construction of luxurious hotels and you also have a large local workforce, which has flowed into these areas. Third, there is no doubt that the interest of the world media was solely due to the Western tourism found in these areas. After all, terrible natural disasters occur regularly in Bangladesh, and no one is interested in them. Even in the media reports, they mainly interview the tourists and not the locals."

Will the world help?

In this spirit, Avinari also does not believe that the current wave of aid will turn into a permanent interest in the unfortunate situation of the residents of the area: "If these places are rebuilt it will not be because of long-term aid, but mainly from the insurance money of the hotels and because of the tourist interest. I don't see who will restore the houses and lives of the villagers and fishermen."

Therefore, he is also not convinced that the disaster will be remembered as a historical event that will leave its mark for generations: "There have been cases when earthquakes became a defining event, when they brought countries closer together - like this, for example, only in recent years, when Greece came to the aid of the injured Turkey. I don't see a similar process happening here."

Hersgaard, on the other hand, believes that "disasters are remembered because of their scope, and the scope of this disaster will cause it to be remembered in history. Beyond that, I believe there is a good chance that the world's attention to this region will change, because of the huge media coverage that was here. It is the first global disaster to be broadcast on such a scale. Therefore, I estimate that the world will indeed mobilize for long-term aid to the region. It will be an event that will be remembered even in 100 years."

Members of different religions give different explanations for the tsunami: a punishment or a warning sign?

By Amy Waldman, New York Times
13/1/2005
Hambantota, Sri Lanka. Purima Gyartana's house stands on its end, next to the remains of four neighboring houses that were destroyed in the tsunami. The 30-year-old woman has an explanation for the strange phenomenon and for the fact that all members of her family came out of the disaster unscathed: she is a Buddhist, her neighbors are not. "Most of the people who lost relatives are Muslims," ​​she said, adding for the record, that among the missing there are also two Christians.

The earthquake and tsunami, in which more than 150 thousand people perished, affected countries in South Asia, from Indonesia - the most populous Muslim country in the world - to India, the most populous Hindu country in the world. The blow also fell on Thailand, which has a Buddhist majority and a Muslim minority, and on Sri Lanka, whose population, mostly Buddhist, also includes Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities.

Among the various peoples and believers who were hit by the disaster, many are trying to find religious answers to the question of why the tsunami hit and why it hurt those it hurt. Among the pious, the tsunami was seen as a disaster from the hand of God, for a reason beyond human understanding. Some believe that the disaster is an attempt to teach humanity a lesson of unity, and point to the mass graves - in which members of different religions were buried, as proof of this. Others see the disaster as confirmation of the righteousness of their way compared to others.

According to Dean Siamsudin, a Muslim cleric in Indonesia, the people of Aceh accepted the tragedy as a sign of God's displeasure and a test of faith. Natural disasters like the tsunami are a sign that humans have strayed from God's path, he said. "We believe this is a test, and we face it humbly," he added. According to him, since a physical tragedy is merely a divine test, the Muslims in Aceh believe that the real punishment from the hands of God will come later, if they do not keep his commandments.

In India, the majority of whose inhabitants are Hindus, some see the tsunami disaster as a divine response to a society in which corruption and greed prevailed. A 55-year-old fisherman whose wife is missing said: "Mama Yam is angry, because the people are not honest, (and therefore) we were punished this way. Fishermen become greedy and jealous of their richer colleagues." The guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, whom many middle-class people in India follow, said: "If you forget nature, this is the way nature reminds you."

In Sri Lanka live people of four religions: Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Buddhists in Sri Lanka believe that death is followed by rebirth, and that sins and good deeds determine one's future in this life and the next. It is not surprising, therefore, that many Buddhists said that they believed that people who lost their children in a disaster had sinned in a previous incarnation. Bandosila, a fisherwoman from Kogala village, said she was sure the survivors were punished, not the dead. "The good ones are gone," she said. "The bad must stay and suffer."

Sri Lankans of all religions are trying to find a connection between the cruelty of nature and the mistakes of man. Ramzi Muhammad, a Muslim businessman, said many Muslims in the country believe that God has angered humans because of family disputes, drug use and rape. "He got angry and brought the streams of water," said Muhammad, who lost 11 members of his family.

Catholic priest Charles Hawassem, who lost many members of his congregation, sees the tsunami as a response to the ethnic disputes in the country, and to the recent tensions between Buddhists and Christians. "Nature says: 'You may have your powers, your fighting, but I can destroy everything in a second,'" he said. The dead "sacrificed their lives so that we learn a lesson: to be together, to treat each other as human beings".