OPINION: Where was God when Haiti happened?

Henry Makori*
Is God good all the time? Is God all-loving, compassionate and always acting in the best interest of human beings, the cream of His creation? Is every human being valuable in the eyes of God? Then why did God allow tens of thousands of innocent people to perish in such a dreadful fashion in Haiti? Is God all-powerful and in control of everything than happens in the universe, including the dropping of a leaf from a tree branch? Does God know everything? Why then couldn’t He use such awesome knowledge and power to protect the people of Haiti?

Is everything that happens part of God’s plan? What is the divine purpose of the horrendous carnage? What was the divine purpose of the Indian Ocean Tsunami that killed a quarter of a million people in 2004? What divine purpose had God in mind in Rwanda in 1994 when He let nearly a million people die? And the Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed? And all the suffering that human beings undergo everyday? Where, really is God?

Believers in an all-powerful and all-loving God who created the universe and is always in control of it attribute problems/suffering to human beings who ruined God’s perfect creation by their own negligence or evil acts. God is always innocent. This is the reasoning of American evangelist Pat Robertson of The 700 Club television programme. He said that when Haiti was a French colony, freedom fighters "swore a pact to the devil," saying, "We will serve you if you will get us free from the French. And so the devil said, ‘Okay, it's a deal.’” Ever since, Robertson continued, "they [Haitians] have been cursed by one thing after the other."

Of course most religious people cringed at this thesis. But, truth be told, every person who believes in an all-powerful and all-loving God accepts that God is always on the side of those who believe in Him. The corollary is that nonbelievers forfeit God’s protection, thereby exposing themselves to all manner of suffering. The problem with this view is that religious people suffer as well. Evil continues, prayers notwithstanding. Kenyans will recall that before the apocalypse of 2007 there were lots of prayers (some held nationally) for peaceful elections.

In the wake of the Haitian horror, the Anglican Church’s second highest ranking cleric, Ugandan-born Archbishop of York John Sentamu, chose silence. “I have nothing to say that makes sense of this horror - all I know is that the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus is that he is with us,” he said. The simple question to Archbishop Sentamu is this: Jesus is with us doing what?

Catholic theologian and physicist Lorenzo Albacete tried to answer just that question. He did not hide his own frustration. “[Religious] officials keep coming out assuring the victims of the tragedy that their “hearts and prayers” go out to them. Prayers? To Whom? To a God who could have simply prevented this from happening?” Knowing that there is actually no adequate religious explanation for the Haiti tragedy or indeed any other human suffering, Fr Albacete nevertheless said: “I can only accept a God who “co-suffers” with me. Such is the God of the Christian faith.”

What exactly is the meaning of that, a God who “co-suffers” with humanity? I thought God was all-powerful, all-knowing, beyond suffering of any kind, the answer to every human question? How does he again “co-suffer” with wretched humanity that looks up to Him for salvation? Doesn’t that sound like an end-of-the-road theological speculation?

In a discussion forum on one web site, a student wrote: “In our school this week we have been asked to say prayers for the people of Haiti. Why? I truly, truly do not understand it. God must have known it was going to happen, mustn't he? And why, now, does he need to be asked to help before he will help the people of Haiti? If God exists, why did he allow that earthquake to happen? Was he powerless to stop it? Or could he have stopped it, but choose not to? I simply cannot understand how God could be real and let this happen. My faith is rapidly running out.”

What is religion’s answer to this student?

[*The writer is a journalist in Nairobi]

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA.