Angry with God (GOPer Jacoby op-ed on Tsunami and GOD)

[papau]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/01/06/angry_with_god/

Angry with God
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | January 6, 2005

AN ONLINE poll at Beliefnet.com, the popular website on religion and spirituality, is asking what role God plays in natural disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami that has devastated much of Asia. The poll offers five options:

(1) God is punishing us. (2) God is testing us. (3) The earthquake and tsunami were sent by God, but we don't know what the purpose was. (4) I believe in God, but the supernatural had nothing to do with this tragedy. 5. God doesn't exist; disasters like this are just forces of nature.

As one who believes in a God of both creation and history -- a God involved in the lives of individuals and nations and without whose existence our own existence would ultimately have no purpose -- I voted for number 3. So did 29 percent of all who have voted so far.

But the runaway winner, at 51 percent, is number 4 -- God exists, but he had no connection to the tsunami. Insurers may call such catastrophes "acts of God," but to a majority of Beliefnet's respondents, that is only a figure of speech.<snip>

<snip>