Acts of God

New Zealand “Grim Eater,” attending
multiple funerals just for the food,
not allowed to take any home.

Bubblehead: IF a major goal of any American administration is to broker an honest peace between Israelis and Palestinians, I do not think it would be useful, wise, or prudent to have a known partisan Jew as Secretary of State, or in any other crucial and important position having to do with brokering such a peace. This is not to say Jews should not serve in important positions at all, just not in one where there is an obvious conflict of interest. How is this any different than a Judge recusing him or herself from a case in which he/she has a conflict of interest? Indeed, I don’t think it is useful to have a President who is a known partisan either. As Our U.S. administrations have almost always been so demonstrably on the side of Israel I think we should butt out and let some other country try to broker a peace (of course we would never let that happen, look what just happened to Turkey and Brazil for their “meddling” in “our” affairs).

As an avowed Atheist I obviously cannot believe in “Acts of God” (and other nonsense) as an explanation for events over which we have no control. For some to claim, as in the case of the BP Gulf Oil disaster, it was an act of god is, to me, utterly ridiculous. This particular event was clearly the result of human greed, negligence, and error in pursuit of profit. Some say it was merely an “accident.” There is one definition of accident that certainly applies here, that is, something unplanned that happened as a result of human error or miscalculation. In this case it is very clear that what happened was not an act of god. This is no doubt true of nuclear accidents as well. That is, the plants are built by humans and their potential malfunctions cannot reasonably be attributed to an act of god, but, rather, to human error of one kind or another. Similarly, many, if not most forest fires are the result of human negligence and cannot be considered acts of god. But what about forest fires caused by lightning? Not so clear, I think.

And what about other natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves, floods, plagues, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and such? At one level we do not consider these to be acts of god because we understand at least some of the basic conditions that bring them about. For example, in the case of hurricanes we know they have something to do with the prevailing winds, the temperature of the ocean, the time of year, and so on. In the case of earthquakes we now know about tectonic plates shifting, sometimes perhaps relating to volcanic activity, etc. Some forms of plague we know are related to rodents, birds, insects, and such. But of course at the most fundamental level we do not know why these things happen. But to say they are acts of god is basically to say we just don’t know. If a particular act is deleterious to humans and contradicts our Christian vision of an omnipresent and omnipotent supernatural being we invent another supernatural, in this case, the devil. Some religious beliefs provide for all sorts of both kinds of supernaturals, but none of these cosmologies explain anything other than human insecurities and helplessness in the face of nature. People don’t know so they simply invent gods and goddesses, devils and demons, wood sprites, ghosts, goblins, witches and sorcerers, huna spirits, and an absolutely bewildering number of powerful and not so powerful supernatural creatures in general. These beliefs are believed to give comfort to some, they don’t to me. You might as well say that volcanoes are just little pimples on the backsides of the universe, or floods are the result of the tears of celestial bloodhounds who have lost their sense of smell, or hurricanes occur when one of the planets is breaking wind, or…or whatever.

The same thing holds true when people speak of their “God-given talent” and thank God for their performance, conveniently forgetting for the moment the thousands and thousands of hours of practice, training, coaching, and dedication that went into making them what they are. Yes, some individuals are more naturally gifted than others, and we don’t know why, but we do know it has something to do with genetics, ancestry, childhood experience, opportunity and nutrition, among other things. If someone excels more easily than others we say he/she is “gifted by god,” again merely saying we don’t know.

Then there is the question of “God-given” rights. It is common to hear these days that people have a god-given right to health care, or a god-given right to clean water, and so on. I do not believe these “rights” are given by God. I am not even certain they are “given” at all. When people make such claims I think they are saying that in decent, adequately functioning human societies based on civil contracts (or whatever you want to call them) or successful cultural traditions, people “ought to have” such rights, just as we specify people should have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There is nothing in nature that automatically confers such rights. Indeed, in a sense it is the genius of some human societies and cultures that have allowed individuals to have such non-natural rights (I suggest such rights do not exist in all human cultures). In the anthropocentric universe humans live in I think we do not understand that in nature (sans humans) there is no waste, no crime, and no evil. These are all artifacts of human activity. I guess there might be the rare animal with rabies, or elephants tipsy on too much fermented fruit, that might act in rather strange ways, but in general, without humans, nature seems to get along pretty well on its own.

LKBIQ:

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say that there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
Frank Zappa

TILT:
Polar bears, the Inuit claim, are smart enough to avoid extinction by moving their hunting grounds.