Seeking the Hand Of God in the Waters - Washington Post Article!

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Seeking the Hand Of God in the Waters

By Jose Antonio Vargas

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, December 31, 2004; Page C01

 

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

dyn/articles/A37677-2004Dec30.html?referrer=emailarticle

(Note: you should cut and paste the entire link to get the site)

Here are the excerpts that are most relevant. Please make sure not

to engage in discussion that goes beyond the list's scope. These

excerpts just confirm why we shouldn't be fanatic about our religious

believes.

Warmest regards,

Ram Chandran

 

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More than 100,000 people died. The pious ones of the 18th century,

clinging to their merciful and omniscient and just God, asked in awe:

Was He angry? Was this His will? Was this His reaction to an ill,

sinful world?

Three centuries pass and here we are. In a world of Muslims and

Christians and Jews and Hindus and Buddhists, with the disaster in

South Asia so far claiming more than 110,000 lives -- many of them

children -- folks all over the world, in all places of worship, are

pondering similar questions.

On the Web site IslamOnline.net, someone from Belgium asked the

geologist Zaghloul el Naggar: "Is there any religious meaning that we

can take from a country being affected by tidal waves? Is this a

punishment from Allah to these people? Or is it a test? How do we

know when a form of natural disaster or phenomenon is a test or a

form of punishment from Allah to the people?"

Some organizations in India say the tsunami is "divine retribution"

for the arrest of Jayendra Saraswati, a Hindu religious leader.

Since Sunday, those of different faiths have sought their own

meaning, and some kind of explanation, for such a massive loss of

life.

On his Web site Watch.org, Bill Koenig writes: "The Biblical

proportions of this disaster become clearly apparent upon reports of

miraculous Christian survival. Christian persecution in these

countries is some of the worst in the world." Eight of the 12

countries hit -- Malaysia, Burma, Bangladesh, Somalia, Maldives, Sri

Lanka, India and Indonesia, he says -- "are among the top 50 nations

who persecute Christians."

Koenig, who lives in Alexandria and started the site in 1996, sees

the South Asian disaster as an example of Christian

exceptionalism. "What happened, and we see this happen over and over

again, was that Christians, supernaturally, have been able to escape

from harm's way," says the self-described Christian

fundamentalist. " 'For then there will be great tribulation, such as

has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no,

not ever shall be,' " he says, quoting from Matthew 24:21.

Mahdi Bray, a Muslim cleric, is the executive director of the Freedom

Foundation, a public affairs arm of the Muslim American Society, a

national grass-roots religious, social and educational organization

based in Washington. He quotes the Bible, too, a psalm which

says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the

morning." There is a similar passage in the Koran, he adds, "Verily

with every difficulty there is relief."

"This is a test" of people's faith, he says again and again.

Sutadhara Tapovanaye, a Buddhist monk for 38 of his 48 years, tries

to explain it differently. This, he says, is a part of life, the

dynamics of nature, an always-changing world.

On Wednesday night, in a tearful memorial service at the Sri Lankan

Embassy, he was asked to say a few words. "It was difficult," he

remembers.

He arrived in the District two months ago for a year-long sabbatical

at the Washington Buddhist Vihara Society. "According to Buddhist

explanations, life is very short," says the linguistics teacher at

Kelaniya University in Sri Lanka. "It is like a dream, but I never

expected a nightmare like this.

"Now, in Sri Lanka, human bodies are piling up and with no

identities. Nobody can recognize bodies as a part of any ethnic group

or religious identification. Just human bodies. The medical workers

give a number for each body," he says. "That means, we have to think

about this death as inevitable, but at the same time, we have to

rethink about life. Though we have different barriers -- man-made

barriers, actually -- the reality is beyond that."

Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus of religious history at the

University of Chicago, has written his 55th book, "When Faiths

Collide," which he says should land in bookstores this week.

He's been an ordained Lutheran minister since 1952.

"It's only natural to repose yourself in the will of God," he

says. "If you're a believer, then you must believe that God, somehow,

is a presence in all of this. But God didn't tell anybody that you go

through life without disasters."

Still, talk of religion's role in the disaster irks Marty. Following

the devastation in Lisbon in 1755, priests roamed the streets,

hanging those they believed had incurred God's wrath. That

event "shook the modern world," he notes, changing people's idea of a

benevolent, all-caring God.

"In each act of nature -- your insurance calls it an act of God --

when people are precise in knowing that this is God's will, they're

creating great trouble for themselves and others. You have to say

that God is playing favorites. You're thinking, 'If I were spared

this time, then when disaster comes next time, I'd have to blame it

on God.' "

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