Voices of Faith

December 18, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

Q. Is God punishing this country?

A. Rabbi Robert L. Tobin of Congregation Beth Shalom, Overland Park, Kan.: The question presumes that our economic hardships and military conflicts are brought about because of some moral or ethical sin on our part as a nation. God knows, no nation is perfect, and many are corrupt and violent beyond peaceful redemption. But America remains the great force for human dignity, freedom and prosperity in the world.

Even so, does God punish and reward any nations in our day? In the last century, we learned that God did not stop even a Nazi regime that slaughtered innocents by the millions and tried to conquer the world within its reach. No, God is not in the business of punishing nations by force or miracle in our day.

What we have learned is that the miracle of divine intervention is dependent upon human action. Our divinely created free will can create the world as it should be.

A. The Rev. Holly Mc- Kissick, pastor of St. Andrew Christian Church, Olathe, Kan.: When a minister known for anti-gay demonstrations took his “show” to a college campus, the students were ready. They knew he’d show up holding posters that read: “God hates fags” and “AIDS is the wrath of God.”

The students could have returned the preacher’s hate by hurling tomatoes and obscenities. Instead, they made their own signs. In bold letters, they wrote, “God hates figs.” Others held posters that read, “Jeremiah 29:17.” Still others read, “Mark 11:14.”

The students were intentionally ridiculous, but they made a point: In the Scriptures, figs incite more holy wrath and destruction than homosexuals.

God isn’t a punishing, all powerful despot, and the next disaster won’t be sent by God. I side with the majority Christian view that says if this earth is destroyed it will not be God’s judgment, but our own, a result of our failure to live as God has invited us to live — justly, generously, peacefully.