Dear Editor,
I write in response to the May 25 edition wherein Mr. Brad Overeem asks “Where is God in the fire?”
He asks and attempts to answer the question that fundamentalist Christians can’t get around, namely, why does a loving god allow so much suffering. (In this case, where is god in the Ft. McMurray fire?)
As an atheist, I am interested in this discussion as I believe the question is central to my contention that there is no god. Mr. Overeem’s answer seems to be twofold. One, God is in the firefighters, god is in the kindness of strangers and so on. The other is that we know god loves us because the Bible says so. Mr. Overeem cites plenty of verses to this “prove” this.
What if I believed in some other myth (instead of the Christian one)?
Let us say I believe in the wonder working power of Santa Claus and I tell you that Santa Claus is in the caring people and brave first responders who worked so hard in Fort McMurray. Surely, that is not proof that Santa Claus is there helping even though we don’t see him. Or what if I tried to convince you that Santa Clause loves and cares for us even though our homes are burning to the ground, and all you have to do is look at various quotes from whatever children’s bedtime story I may produce?
Mr. Overeem may be comforted by his woolly-headed rationalizations about god. But whether we pretend that Zeus, Santa Claus or Jesus is helping us in a crisis is just silly.
Scott Lewis
Ponoka