Bennett letter: God’s disasters
In asking the question “Are natural disasters part of God’s retribution?” (Sept. 10), religion professor Mathew Schmalz misses the point. The Bible tells us that God is weak, unable, for example, to even battle chariots of iron (Judges 1:19), so why would anyone expect him to be able to control a much more powerful hurricane?
Where Prof. Schmalz and the conservative clergy should look for the answer to the question about retribution is Mount Olympus. There they will find that Poseidon, a manyfold more powerful deity, is responsible for hurricanes.
The Olympic gods support reason (one of the gifts the ancient Greeks gave us in founding Western Civilization), not the unthinking blind faith of the conservative clergy. Knowing this, it is obvious that Texas and Florida were punished for voting for the anti-rationalist Donald Trump.
Idahoans should heed this warning the next time they vote. Those earthquakes in eastern Idaho? Poseidon does earthquakes, too.
Gary L. Bennett, Boise
This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Bennett letter: God’s disasters."