09.05.08
God on trial
God was on trial on BBC 2 the other night. In a very interesting drama prisoners in Auschwitz, who were scheduled for the gas chamber, put God on trial on the charge that he had broken his covenant with his chosen people by allowing such barbarity to take place.
The trial was interrupted from time to time to show us a group of modern day tourists visiting the death camp site. The tourist group included young and old and, I think, a survivor of Auschwitz.
Although, as I say, the drama was interesting and God was found guilty in the end, it really was nothing more than a propaganda piece in favour of the hypocrisy and stark contradictions present in all religions.
For example; one God defender, when asked why the horror was allowed argued that it was a plan by God, that it was a punishment for human wrongdoing. It was even suggested that Hitler and his Nazis were created by God to carry out his plan, that they were his tools.
Later, a prosecution witness asked if God was all powerful why did he allow such horror to occur. Effectively, the same question as above but this time there was a completely different and contradictory answer.
Free Will; He gave us free will to make our own choices and we choose to do evil. In this case it wasn’t God’s plan; it was simply bad human behaviour over which God had no control.
This is completely illogical. Apparently, we are to accept that God made humans in such a way that they were unable to stop themselves from doing wrong and then devised a plan designed to punish them for doing wrong. Even worse, he ruthlessly punished and destroyed those who had committed minor or no crimes at all, like small children.
Towards the end, when the Nazis came to take the men away to die, we saw the most anti God character break down and plead for help – he was told by the (serene) pro God side to pray.
The impression given was that those who challenge God are only confident in their beliefs when they are safe from the immediate fear of death. This is a dishonest portrayal. Many humans who have no belief whatsoever face torture and death with great courage.
On several occasions throughout the drama the pro God side stated that Hitler would die, the war would end but that the Torah, God and his chosen people would live on. This, I believe, was the central message the writer of the drama wanted to convey.
No matter what happened here on earth, no matter how mysterious and unjust God’s actions seemed to be, no matter what suffering the innocent were forced to endure – All would be well in the end so long as humans retained their blind faith in God.