Upheaval, uproar and violent tumult afflict large sections of our globe’s surface, as daily headlines make obvious, and this fact naturally leads certain tender-hearted souls to the conclusion that there is some vague sort of “Evil Force” out there whose goal is to make existence supremely miserable for humankind.
“Why,” as the saying goes, “do so many bad things happen to so many good people?” After each catastrophe and demonstration of monumental human folly, we behold legions of hand-wringing philosophers and theologians who try desperately to understand why human beings continually get immersed in great oceans of disaster. “With just a little more sincere faith,” these pious observers tell us, “humanity’s prospects ought to take a turn for the better”.
If only things were that simple and clear cut. Preachers have preached and saints have acted saintly throughout human history. These holy souls have worked diligently to construct very nice looking sandcastles of spirituality, only to have a huge incoming tide of vileness and profanity wash it all away in an eye-blink.
We pray more and we adhere ever more devoutly to messages of decency, but the horror stories and the terrifying examples of reprehensible human behavior keep coming.
Opinion polling tells us that more and more Americans describe themselves as “religiously non-adherent” or “religiously non-participating.” This isn’t surprising. To believe in an all-encompassing Beneficent Force in today’s circumstances is to indulge in the most obvious sort of self-delusion.
The bad news just keeps coming.
– Frank Goheen
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