An exercise in natural theology

And as we think about rebuilding New Orleans, surely God is mad at America, he’s sending hurricane after hurricane after hurricane and it’s destroying and putting stress on this country. Surely he’s not approving of us being in Iraq under false pretense.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, The Times-Picayune

One of the difficulties of interpreting God’s will as manifest in physical events is the (quite natural) tendency of most interpreters to focus exclusively on disasters. Commonplace events by far outnumber the odd hurricane or tsunami, and we are left with an incomplete picture of God’s thoughts.

Recently my car has not been starting well. I have tentatively concluded that God is gumming up my carburetor to tell me something about Al Gore’s lawn. Also, my dog has taken to chasing squirrels. I have yet to fathom what the Creator means by this. His ways are mysterious.

Posted on January 17th, 2006 by pwyll
Filed under: religion

3 Responses to “An exercise in natural theology”

  1. A radically spiritual progressive libertarian, on January 20th, 2006 at 12:59 pm Said:

    Your dog chasing squirrels?

    Dog is God spelled backwards. Thus, in reality, it is the squirrel, as vegetarian forager, chasing the dog, the carniverous hunter. But the opposite of God is the devil. Thus the squirrel is, in fact, chasing the devil, as personified by a loathsome carnivore.

    But what does the chase represent? The chase represents the spirit of a new vegetarian transnationalism, administered by the UN, overtaking the old primitive hunter/carnivore nation-state demon.

    Surely, nothing could be more clear.

  2. pwyll, on January 20th, 2006 at 11:57 pm Said:

    It’s all clear to me now.

  3. atpeacenow, on January 21st, 2006 at 8:29 am Said:

    I was hoping and waiting for theological explanations from the rspl. Thank you. I had naively thought it was because dogs like to chase squirrels.

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