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Why do natural disasters happen?
Was God responsible?

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Quotations:

	"....there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:7-8, King James Version of the Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a. Old Testament).
	"Why did you do this to us, God? What did we do to upset you?" The plea of an elderly woman who lived in devastated village in southern India's Tamil Nadu state, trying to make sense of the tsunami disaster. 1
	"How could a benevolent god visit such horror on ordinary people?," Peter Graff, Reuters news agency. 1
	"...the Bible does indeed say that God kills people because of sin, and that he is going to send even more disasters to this planet, and kill most of the people on it, because of sin." Anon 2
	"I try to make sense of it all: how a loving, compassionate God is trying to send us a message about our sins. But then my beliefs disintegrate when I see the row upon row of children's coffins." Excerpt from an Email sent to this website.

About God's role:

Beliefnet conducted a poll of its visitors concerning whether God has "a role in natural disasters like hurricanes." Results as of 2005-SEP-24 were:

	45%: Although I believe in God, the supernatural has nothing to do with any specific natural disaster.
	28%: Yes, disasters are sent by God, but we don't know what the purpose was.
	12%: God is testing us
	8%: God is punishing us.
	8% God doesn't exist and disasters like this are just forces of nature.

Editorial comments: We normally try to keep our personal beliefs out of our essays, but will make an exception in this case. We were surprised that more than one person in four believes that God creates disasters like the South Asian Tsunami and the Katrina Hurricane in order to send us some sort of message, causes the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and major dislocation to millions of people, and yet does not make that message clear. We are at a loss to understand this position.

Topics covered in this section:

We attempt to describe the diversity of beliefs about the reasons why the south Asian tsunami of 2004 and hurricane Katrina of 2005 happened and why so many humans were killed.

As with most sections in this website, we expect that visitors will see their own beliefs documented here, and may become somewhat enraged at the conflicting beliefs of others who do not share their beliefs.

Overview: the tsunami of 2004, and Katrina of 2005, Why they happen; How people handle the news

	Logical answers to why tragedies happen.
	Difficulties that tragedies pose to religious beliefs "Tsunami-class" mass murders in the Bible.
	Conflicting reasons why the South Asian tsunami happened in 2004-DEC, according to many: Scientists, secularists, etc. Religious conservatives. Religious moderates, liberals, etc. Religious skeptics.
	Conflicting reasons why hurricane Katrina happened in 2005-AUG, according to many: Religious conservatives Additional reactions Environmentalists By religious liberals and secularists
	Predictions of Katrina

References:

1. Peter Graff, "Faiths Ask of Quake: 'Why Did You Do This, God?'," Reuters, 2004-DEC-30, at: http://www.reuters.com/

2. "Swedish pastor disowns US hate site," The Local, Sweden, 2005-JAN-07, at: http://www.thelocal.se/

Copyright © 2005 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally posted: 2005-JAN-01
Latest update: 2008-SEP-11
Author: B.A. Robinson

 

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