Having a Go at God

It's tempting to have a go at God, and easy. But having a go at God is like trying to have a go at Jews or Maoris....there is something deeply entrenched in so many psyches that any criticism at all of these groups is met with such a wall of denial and recrimination that that phenomenon alone is worthy of having a go at.

I have many friends who supposedly believe in God, and I don't wish to offend their sensibilities. But the fact that each of their "Gods" looks quite different seems to escape their powers of reason. It is now perfectly acceptable to believe in pretty much whatever version of god that suits your lifestyle best, and doesn't challenge your actions, feelings, or beliefs. It seems you can be a dope-smoking carousing alcoholic with no intention of repentance whatsoever, and still be a righteous steward, in between your day job as a bookie, and your after hours secondary employment as a drug-dealing pimp.

Hallelujah! God is indeed great!!

Now, volumes and volumes have been written about good v. evil, the existence of god, theodicy, and far be it from me to presume I could begin to deal with the complexities of those arguments in one simple blog post. Which is why I have avoided this topic and others in my blogs in the past. But in the dim light of what will undoubtedly be the worst tragedy in New Zealand's history, surely its poignant to ask some obvious questions about recent events, in relation to some of the religiosity on display. And of course, questions extend beyond the confines of Christchurch. The same questions can be asked of any tragedy in the world, indeed any sinfulness worldwide.

Just where was God on Tuesday? Perhaps this is the most obvious line of questioning. But for the religiously brainwashed it's the easiest to dismiss. But I'll ask anyway. Did he spend the morning in a planning session with the Angels, deciding just which buildings to topple? Which houses to crush? Which sinners to squash? I resisted the urge for years to buy into the logically sound argument that either God is not omnipotent, or he is not omnibenevolent, or he is not omnipresent. He simply cannot be all three.

Does he in fact work in mysterious ways? (I know ...but it is a loose use of Isaiah 55) It seems very mysterious that God saw fit to allow two little children to be crushed in the CTV building, but the staunch gangsta looking dude with the pretty snake tattoo on his neck to walk out unscathed. What sins were the infants so guilty of that God and the Angels saw fit for them to be punished? And their parents?

Apparently there are many many people praying for the people of Christchurch. Jesus has his own Facebook page and is offering comfort to the stricken. (Personally I think he's offering comfort to those doing the praying on his behalf, but that's another story)

God seems to have ignored the prayers of the 103 families whose loved ones have died. And he seems to be oblivious to another 226 sets of prayers being offered. The simple answer that should satisfy even the most enquiring of mind is that "God sometimes says NO!"

You know what? I always found that arrogant, meaningless platitude to be one of the most insensitive, presumptuous, vile statements in the whole of religious excuse. God sometimes says no. Fuck that!

Apparently we cannot understand God's reasons for doing things the way he does. We're too stupid. And if little snippets of doubt do sneak through to the masses, they're quickly reminded that not only are they stupid, they're also arrogant to even question God's ways.

Way to lock up any personal freedom of thought. Somehow modern religion has clouded the reality that its observants are actually as dim-witted and as under-the-thumb as any of those illiterate peasants in the dark and middle ages.

Is this the best of all possible worlds? So you have UNLIMITED power. UNLIMITED ability!!!! And for whatever reason you decide to create a big ball in the middle of nowhere and inhabit it with these cool little playthings called people.

So lets, just for fun, build into this big ball SO many weaknesses and faults and inefficiencies that just those alone will cause intolerable suffering and death every single rotation of the ball. But lets not stop there. Let's also build into the structure and nature of the inhabitants weaknesses and evils that will undermine every positive human endeavour ever undertaken. Let's make a good percentage of the inhabitants so selfish and evil and reprehensible that, for example, in the midst of the Christchurch tragedy they will use that tragedy as an opportunity to steal the belongings of those affected and displaced by the tragedy.

That's the best possible world I, with UNLIMITED power, would create?

Yeah, right.

In times like this God is utterly defenseless. And Christchurch is only one small drop in the ocean of accusation one can direct at God. There's en entire history of human suffering and evil that NO argument in favour of God can ever resolve.

The simple fact is that God does not exist, so to "have a go at God" is meaningless. It's entirely appropriate, however, to have a go at the weakness of the arguments that supposedly support the continued belief in any such God or sentient higher power. If you feel the need to pray, then by all means do so. But don't pray for me. Don't pray for the safety of the hundred or so people already dead in Christchurch or the two or three hundred people missing. Don't pray for their families. Don't pray for the safety and emotional well-being of the residents of Christchurch. Don't pray for the rescue workers. Don't pray for those displaced. Don't pray for the future of this city.

Clearly prayer is pointless. Events are either predetermined (by what or who you may ask) or completely random. Or there are other operations in play. It's easy to speculate, but in the midst of my most heartfelt and honest speculation I just cannot accept the God delusion (not that Richard Dawkins does a very good job of explaining things either).

I'm not really angry at "God" or the universe, though that will be an easy accusation. I'm not really scared of dying or the world falling down around me. I'm not angry that people have died in the earthquake. I am a bit pissed off that looters are taking advantage of vulnerable people, but that happens all the time. It doesn't require an earthquake for the scum to bubble up from the gutters. They are amongst us all the time. If I'm annoyed at anything, I'm annoyed that as a society we tolerate such scum and give them chance after chance to undermine our society and hurt good people.

And if I thought for a second that God actually existed, I'd definitely be ANGRY that in the midst of such human tragedy and upheaval, such uncertainty and terror, such death and destruction, he would still be demanding respect, allegiance and worship.

Fuck that!