Religion and the Tsunami

Dear NPR's Morning Edition,

Shame on you for propagating the age-old primitive error that anthropomorphic
forces are behind the actions of nature. In your piece by Barbara Bradley
Hagerty on January 10th, 2005, "Reconciling Religious Faith and Natural
Disaster", you err by assuming that your whole audience accepts the premise
of a deity, and end up "begging the question" of a God whose motives are
perplexing to us. This implies that naturalistic explanations are
insufficient, and that we should by necessity frame natural disasters in the
light of "God's punishment" or "God's mysterious ways". The former increases
inter-faith and inter-cultural hatred, and the latter explains nothing.

It would have been better to include this opinion: sometimes the earth just
'coughs', hurts life in the process, and that there is not, nor ever has
there been provable cause and effect between the actions of so-called
"sinners and saints", and the earth's tectonic plates. It would sure save
humanity an awful lot of wasted thought; instead of thinking "Why would God
do this?", we are better off thinking "How can I help now, and help prevent
this in the future?"

Cordially,
Aaron Krister Johnson (Chicago)
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.dividebypi.com

yes applause for aaron. It is important that we take responsibility for the future and not let ourselves be lead by supposed transcendental totalitarian forces

Aaron K. Johnson wrote:

>Dear NPR's Morning Edition,
>
>Shame on you for propagating the age-old primitive error that anthropomorphic >forces are behind the actions of nature. In your piece by Barbara Bradley >Hagerty on January 10th, 2005, "Reconciling Religious Faith and Natural >Disaster", you err by assuming that your whole audience accepts the premise >of a deity, and end up "begging the question" of a God whose motives are >perplexing to us. This implies that naturalistic explanations are >insufficient, and that we should by necessity frame natural disasters in the >light of "God's punishment" or "God's mysterious ways". The former increases >inter-faith and inter-cultural hatred, and the latter explains nothing.
>
>It would have been better to include this opinion: sometimes the earth just >'coughs', hurts life in the process, and that there is not, nor ever has >there been provable cause and effect between the actions of so-called >"sinners and saints", and the earth's tectonic plates. It would sure save >humanity an awful lot of wasted thought; instead of thinking "Why would God >do this?", we are better off thinking "How can I help now, and help prevent >this in the future?" >
>Cordially,
>Aaron Krister Johnson (Chicago)
>http://www.akjmusic.com
>http://www.dividebypi.com
>
>
>
>
>Meta Tuning meta-info:
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>
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--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

....What he said......

--- Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...> wrote:

> yes applause for aaron. It is important that we take
> responsibility for
> the future and not let ourselves be lead by supposed
> transcendental
> totalitarian forces
>
> Aaron K. Johnson wrote:
>
> >Dear NPR's Morning Edition,
> >
> >Shame on you for propagating the age-old primitive
> error that anthropomorphic
> >forces are behind the actions of nature. In your
> piece by Barbara Bradley
> >Hagerty on January 10th, 2005, "Reconciling
> Religious Faith and Natural
> >Disaster", you err by assuming that your whole
> audience accepts the premise
> >of a deity, and end up "begging the question" of a
> God whose motives are
> >perplexing to us. This implies that naturalistic
> explanations are
> >insufficient, and that we should by necessity frame
> natural disasters in the
> >light of "God's punishment" or "God's mysterious
> ways". The former increases
> >inter-faith and inter-cultural hatred, and the
> latter explains nothing.
> >
> >It would have been better to include this opinion:
> sometimes the earth just
> >'coughs', hurts life in the process, and that there
> is not, nor ever has
> >there been provable cause and effect between the
> actions of so-called
> >"sinners and saints", and the earth's tectonic
> plates. It would sure save
> >humanity an awful lot of wasted thought; instead of
> thinking "Why would God
> >do this?", we are better off thinking "How can I
> help now, and help prevent
> >this in the future?"
> >
> >Cordially,
> >Aaron Krister Johnson (Chicago)
> >http://www.akjmusic.com
> >http://www.dividebypi.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Meta Tuning meta-info:
> >
> >To unsubscribe, send an email to:
> >metatuning-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> >Web page is
> http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/metatuning/
> >
> >To post to the list, send to
> >metatuning@yahoogroups.com
> >
> >You don't have to be a member to post.
> >
> >
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> Kraig Grady
> North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
> <http://anaphoria.com/>
> The Wandering Medicine Show
> KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9
> pm Los Angeles
>

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