Testing god
Religious justification for earthquakes
January 4, 2004
The Iranian
On All Saints Day 1755 (November 1st, a Catholic
Holiday), a devastating earthquake shook Lisbon the capital of
Portugal with the death toll surpassing many tens of thousands
and a near
total destruction of the city. The following day, while the bereaved
surviving inhabitants were wailing, mourning their losses and fighting
the many fires, the city's priests were roaming the streets
hanging people of suspected of heresy, blaming them for
the natural catastrophe, which they said was a manifestation of
God's anger.
When news of the earthquake and the priests' reaction
reached Voltaire, it propelled him to compose the lengthy poem
"On the Disaster of Lisbon", one of his most beautiful
and serious writings. In this poem he objectively dismisses the
idea of natural disasters being of will of God. He followed it
up four years later by writing his masterpiece, Candide.
Candide is a satirical tale of a simpleton who adopts the philosophy of
his teacher, Dr. Pangloss. After witnessing and experiencing one
disaster after another, in each case Dr. Pangloss assures him that
in spite of appearances everything is for the best in the best
of all possible worlds. Dr. Pangloss says:
"After the
earthquake which destroyed three-quarters of Lisbon, the wise
men of that country could discover no more efficacious
way of preventing a total ruin than by giving the people
a splendid auto-da-fe. It was decided by the University of Coimbre
that
the sight of several persons being slowly burned in great ceremony
is an infallible secret for preventing earthquakes."
Twenty two years ago a devastating earthquake in Iran's Kerman
Province killed many thousands. The leader of the Islamic Republic
at the time, Ayatollah Khomeini, during a condolences message
to the bereaved nation declared, "We must know that these
unfortunate occurrences are hardships and tests from the high
and lofty
God ... "
In the early hours
of the morning on Friday December 26, a devastating earthquake
leveled the town of Bam, also in Kerman, and many villages surrounding
it. The casualty count
hast risen to more than 40,000 deaths
and many more injured.
Three days after the earthquake, the current
Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, made
a surprise
two and
half hour visit to the town, replete with his contingent
of hundreds of body guards and familiar kaki colored
armored
Velaayat-Mobile. During a brief speech at one of the rubble
strewn traffic circles he declared: "My dear brothers and
sisters, these unfortunate
occurrences are hardships and tests from God..." >>> News & politics
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