Bushfire Memorial

Image by Thingo via Flickr

Sunday 22 Feb 09 will see a Memorial service for the Victorian bushfire victims, held at Rod Laver Arena.

Whilst I commend the idea of having some sort of gathering to enable the victims to grieve and for others to show their respect. I do have a slight problem with aspects of the memorial.

The religious overtones.

A spokesperson on the news tonight exclaimed how it was going to be a great spiritual event. How it was going to be a multi-faith event, with religious leaders from different faiths providing sermons. (joy oh fucking joy, looking forward to those bits … not.)

Now, if I’ve done my research right, god is supposed to be some sort of loving, omnipotent being that can direct all sorts of natural outcomes. So how come he lets numerous fires ravage huge tracts of Victoria, killing over 200 people and destroying over 1,800 homes?

Then, more to the point, how can religious leaders who supposedly believe this shit, then turn around and hold services in His name?

My view, there is probably no god, the bushfires were the result of various natural and man-made occurrences. Many people have lost their lives, or have had close family members and/or friends killed or injured. Many have lost their homes and all their possessions. I can’t imagine how horrible this senseless disaster was to these people, but please don’t bring god into the equation. Surely anyone who has, even remotely, been affected by this (or any other) natural disaster must realise there is no god and this sort of thing is just a case of “shit happens”.

I would be really interested to know what any of the many victims of the Victorian bushfires think about god now.

Finally I’d also like to pass on my sympathies to anyone affected by both the Victorian bushfires and the floods in Queensland.

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