God and Disasters, Man-Made or Otherwise

Re “Some See God’s Hand in Remade Landscape,” Jan. 5: Only selective and tortured thinking can lead anyone to “see God’s hand” in anything related to this tsunami disaster. Surviving another disaster, the Shoah, I could either believe in God and reject it for the 6 million victims or realize the travesty my nation was stuck with.

Either way, there can’t possibly be a God I want to worship that makes a Shoah or a tsunami.

Albert Reingewirtz

Carlsbad

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I read the Jan. 5 commentary, “What Was God Thinking?” by Jonathan Sacks, and learned the following: God “was not in the earthquake or the whirlwind that destroys,” “We are not God,” and “We cannot understand God, but we can strive to imitate his love and care.” In short order I have learned that God has a finite border (and humans aren’t inside that border), that this God is a male and this deity, after wiping out millions of humans at the time of Noah, is no longer in the flood game. Assertions without proof belie the asserter. Faith isn’t meant to be duct tape, after all. I have come to realize that the threat to religion does not come from science, but from the arrogance of those who pretend to know the ineffable. Sacks writes, “In Judaism, faith lies in the question, not the answer.” I would believe that sentiment more were it not for all the “answers” religious leaders pretend to have.

Frank Armstrong

Los Angeles

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Re “Tsunami Aid Stems Unrest, Boosts U.S. Security, Powell Says,” Jan. 5: Every dollar given to help save people and rebuild entire swaths destroyed by tsunamis is a dollar spent to also fight terrorism.

Nothing hurts recruiting for groups like Al Qaeda than when the large number of Muslims affected see hope radiating from the people of the United States, be they Christian, Jewish or Muslim Americans. The U.S. won the Cold War not only through its military might but the often forgotten “soft power” that emanates from upholding our values. The disaster has so stunned the peoples of this area that ethnic and religious conflicts are being set aside as communities come together. Now is the chance to build upon that spirit to promote tolerance and understanding that can keep us safe at home.

Omar Masry

Thousand Oaks

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Though it is admirable that the United States is sending massive amounts of aid to victims of the tsunami and former presidents Bush and Clinton are putting the squeeze on corporations and private citizens to pony up money, I have a huge problem. Why does this country rush to the aid of everyone else in the world while neglecting our own? I personally will not donate one dime until every American is no longer homeless, hungry, jobless or uninsured.

Why don’t the two former presidents hit up their corporate and financially able friends and contacts to help those in desperate need here at home? Only then will I consider the plight of the rest of the world.

Skip Houston

Laguna Beach