Tsunami

The tsunami and God's role in itJoan RyanThursday, January 6, 2005http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/01/06/BAGF6ALB071.DTLWhen I was a kid, I believed in cosmic balance.Everything that happened in one's life evened out, asort of algebraic canceling out of pain and beautythat ultimately rendered both sides of the equationequal. You could count on, say, finding a dollar onthe sidewalk after school if your pants ripped duringgym class. I also believed we had a finite allotment of wordsthat had to last until we died, a conclusion reachedafter visiting a nursing home with my elementaryschool class. I saw old people who, in attempting tospeak, made sounds like monsters in a movie. I learnedlater about strokes, but at the time I figured theyhad gone through their words too fast, a mistake Iwould not make. The human psyche, or maybe the soul, seeks explanationfor what it can't comprehend, most particularly ofevents that are painful, frightening or unjust. Fromthe most primitive cultures to our own, throughstories and scripture, the quest for answers has ledto God, whatever the name or form. In the aftermath of the southern Asia tsunami thattook more than 150,000 lives, people ask: "Why didthis horror happen? Why did God allow it?'' I hesitateto raise the questions at all, knowing the answerswill raise only more questions. But an event of thisscale -- biblical, some have said -- has evennonreligious people grappling with the nature of Godand the purpose of suffering. I posed the questions tofollowers of different faiths. Hasem Bazian, a lecturer on Islam at UC Berkeley,quoted the prophet Hadith to me. "If God loves aservant, he sends tribulation upon him,'' echoing thestory of Job from the Old Testament and similarparables from other religions. "In Islam, all those who die in a natural catastrophedie in a state of martyrdom,'' Bazian said. They arenot held accountable for their sins in life; they aregiven passage directly into paradise. For those leftbehind, he said, a tragedy of this scope is a reminderof God's power and our own mortality. "It's a recognition of the need to walk lightly uponthis Earth with a sense of humility and respect forthe divine,'' Bazian said. "And to be thankful for theblessings you have.'' Baslim Elkarra of Sacramento, a Muslim with theCouncil on American- Islamic Relations, said acolleague at CAIR in Maryland lost 30 family membersin the tsunami. Elkarra has reminded himself of apassage in the Quran in which one line is repeatedtwice: "Verily with difficulty comes ease.'' "Life is not supposed to be easy,'' he said. "How werespond is the test of our faith. Here in the Westpeople ask, How could God do this? Over there, theyturn to God even more, asking for his mercy.'' Onkar Bindar, a retired professor, is a trustee at aSikh temple in Sacramento. "Nobody knows what is thereason,'' he said. "Nobody can question Him. But it isnot random. There is a purpose.'' Monsignor Harry Schlitt of the San Francisco RomanCatholic Archdiocese agreed there is a purpose andonly God knows what it is. He rejects any notion thatthe purpose is punishment for sins, as somefundamentalists will always claim after a tragedy.Once tossed out of Eden, humankind has lived in animperfect world with evil and earthquakes, pain andgrief. "We have to live with the nature that is ours -- humannature and the nature we have around us,'' Schlittsaid. "God did not cause the tsunami. It is naturetaking its course.'' Chief priest Ananth Subramania-Batter at the ShivaMurugan Temple in Concord said Hindus believe thatevery person has a predestined date of death. "If Goddecides I am going to live 60 years, that is myfate,'' he said through an interpreter. He speaksTamil. He said the souls of those who died in southern Asiaare still alive and will be reborn, perhaps again as ahuman, perhaps an animal or insect. It depends on theperson's karma, determined by how he or she lived inthis life. "It is a lesson for all of us,'' the priest said,"that no matter how secure we feel or how advanced weare, anything can happen at any time and anywhere.There are things that are out of our control. What isin our control is to do good things during ourlives.'' The Rev. Amos Brown of Third Baptist Church in SanFrancisco said the tsunami is not an expression of Godany more than famine or war or street violence. But wefind ourselves questioning God in this tragedy becauseso many people died at once, he said. "If you ask why God didn't stop the tsunami, whyaren't you asking why God didn't stop slavery?'' Brownsaid. "Why he didn't talk to George Bush before hewent to war? Look at Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia. Whereis God there?'' It is a misguided question, Brown said. What we shouldbe asking in the wake of any tragedy isn't "Where isGod?'' but "Where are we?'' The answer in this case isan amazingly hopeful one. We are everywhere that helpis needed, sending money and supplies in unprecedentednumbers. It is exactly what God would want of us,Brown said. "But,'' he asked, "what about the large numbers ofpeople around the world, and on our own streets, dyingin slow motion? Where are we for them?'' Another question without any good answer.