By Rev. Dr. Hanns Skoutajan
One can scarcely blame religious “nuts” these days if they believe the end is nigh. Biblical writings especially in the Old Testament book of Daniel, a favourite with them, and the Revelations of St. John, the last book in the New Testament present scenarios of end times that resemble our world today. There are wars, pestilence, storms and quakes. We have it all.
Undoubtedly for many of the people of Burma and China, it must seem not as signs of the end but that in fact the end of the world has come, at least their world. Nor is it all far away. Americans have experienced the approach of a black funnel cloud roaring like an angry lion as it rips though buildings and forests, of fires and floods that have devastated country and city. Of course it is of no comparison to what we read and hear and see from the other side of the world. We still vividly recall the savagery of Hurricane Katrina that laid waste New Orleans. In Canada also we have experienced floods causing whole communities to be airlifted south from the James Bay region.
Then there are the man-made disasters, 9/11 when tall skyscrapers in Manhattan were impacted by airliners with a death toll in the thousands. The violence of Darfur seems not to abate and the AIDS crisis continues in epidemic proportions throughout Africa.
Doom sayers are well supplied with examples to underwrite their dire predictions. Nor do they any longer seem like the crack pots depicted in cartoons - bearded and tattered beggars brandishing signs calling on people to repent that the judgment day is at hand. Today they are on TV and radio spouting off their dire predictions that God is Mad, declare your love and be saved by “rapture” when the going gets hot.
I do not believe in a god that devastates his/her creation in order to punish collectively humankind for our wayward and profligate ways. I cannot believe in a divinity that dooms the innocent especially children. I much prefer to believe in a God who calls forth the best in humankind to sacrifice on behalf of the victims of disasters who work indefatigably for peace and justice.
Millions of dollars pour daily into the coffers of agencies such as Oxfam and many others. We recall the massive outpouring of compassion at the time of the Asian Tsunami. It was truly global in extent. Much has been accomplished in the meantime. Areas laid waste are now unrecognizable in their reconstruction.
It is oh so obvious to see the wreckage and the evil of our time. Now most evident is the multiple disaster of Burma, nature’ s wrath but also human intransigence in refusing aid to come to the victims of that ravaged land. It is also obvious to see leaders in government and business who refuse to take action on global warming which not far down the road will prepare new disasters of a global nature.
Perhaps all this convinces you that there is no god, that we are in fact in the hands of a dispassionate nature. Its a valid argument, Dworkin would agree. But whether we believe or not I know that there is a spirit alive in the world that calls on us to reach out whatever the cost, to heal and rescue and to make peace with humanity and all creation.
I believe that there is a truly holy spirit a’ movin’ in our world.
Hanns