Madam, - Paul Delaney (January 6th) asks for a "cogent explanation" of why a good and all-powerful God would "visit such a catastrophe on his own children". But is this the right question?
If I should have the misfortune to break a nose or a leg, would I ask why God inflicted such a catastrophe on me? Projecting such quasi-human meanings into physical events is meaningless.
The human meanings come in when we pick ourselves up, drawing on the virtues and resources needed to accept the situation and to deal with it.
Many people have found that God is somehow present as a strengthener in that process, whether seen as Christ crucified or as the Holy Nothingness of some Jewish thinkers.
The fact that catastrophes are so much part of the universe does not take away from the glory of creation, "groaning in travail" in its awesome evolutionary process. Real evil does not lie in the rumblings of nature but in the kind of viciousness we have seen in the man-made tsunami unleashed on Iraq. - Yours, etc.,
Father JOE O'LEARY, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan.
A Chara, - Pledges from world governments to relieve the disaster in Asia now amount to almost $4 billion. The war in Iraq so far is estimated to have cost well over $100 billion. Which is better value for money? - Is mise,
CIARÁN MACAONGHUSA, Nice, An Fhrainc.
Madam, - It is the most natural, human thing in the world to be deeply affected by disaster and, depressed, to question the existence of a kind, loving, supreme being. Patsy McGarry, God bless him (Opinion, January 3rd), reacts as so many others have done in recent days, and probably since the beginning of time. And was there not a priest uttering the same thoughts recently on TV?
Many of us, caring for the sick, have heard the same despairing questions: "Why did it have to happen to me?" "What have I done to deserve this?" "Oh God: Why, why, why?"
Mr McGarry reaches a not unknown conclusion: "Let's look after each other, as no one else will." Others might come to a more dangerous decision: "Henceworth, I must look after myself, and to hell with everyone else, for the end justifies the means, all of them!"
At 83 years, I have had many sad times, brushing with death, seeing loved ones get dangerously ill, attending when possible the funerals of lifetime relations and friends. Faith in God, however, is still alive in me, and sustains me as it did my ancestors over countless generations, regardless of all.
We have had many disasters in Ireland: invasion, slaughter, occupation, persecution, torture, starvation, slavery, the destruction of our culture, exploitation, robbery of our land, defiling of our churches and other sacred places, all accompanied doubtless by moments of great despair.
Nevertheless, our faith in God, in the gentle Jesus, in the loving Mary, in all these courageous saints, has survived. And may our faith inspire us to give generously, as an island nation, to the victims of a raging, eastern sea. Amen? - Yours, etc.,
DEASÚN BREATNACH, Dún Laoghaire, Co Átha Cliath.
A Chara, - Patsy McGarry asks: where is God in all of this? No fewer than 10 times in his article he questions God's whereabouts during this dreadful disaster.
Clive Cookson's article on tsunami-warning systems (Irish Times, January 4th) made very interesting reading. Cookson writes that some scientists have been pressing for an Indian Ocean tsunami-warning system since the early 1990s. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and United Nations experts, a functional system could be installed for between $5 million and $10 million.
Perhaps, and understandably, the world is asking the same questions as Patsy McGarry. But why are we always so quick to hold God accountable? Perhaps the God of love is asking us even tougher questions. For example, why Thai workers are paid an average $4 a day to make Nike hats, while Tiger Woods is paid $55,000 a day to wear them. Why the regime in Indonesia has enjoyed freedom in budgeting its military for many years and why India's recent military spend totalled $15.6 billion.
Maybe the most important questions that God in heaven has for us are why the scientists who pressed for a warning system in the early 1990s were largely ignored and why we allowed so many people to perish, when we had the means at our disposal to prevent it. - Is mise,
MÍCÉAL BOLGER, Cill Bharróg, Baile Átha Cliath 5.