Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.
In traditional western religions, the dominant view is that
God, conceived in theistic terms as a loving and caring divinity, rewards and
punishes every individual according to his/her deeds. God, in fact, “causes
death and gives life…He guards the steps of His faithful, but the wicked perish
in darkness’ (I Sam. 2). Therefore, if, by definition, God is omnipotent and
all-good, and still evil exists in the world, the only solution is to assume
that it is because humanity is at fault. As one ancient Rabbi put it, “If a
person sees that painful sufferings visit him, let him examine his conduct”
(Ber.5a). Ultimately, there is no satisfactory solution to the problem of evil
within classical theism, as another older sage acknowledged, “It is not in our
power to understand the prosperity of the wicked, nor the suffering of the
righteous” (PA. 4:19). The corona virus pandemic has once again raised the
issue for us. Why are people dying, especially innocent people, both old and
young, who did nothing wrong?
The proper understanding of evil has a long history in
philosophic speculations, and no satisfactory answer is found within theism
proper. In trying to get out of this dilemma, some have suggested that we need
to look for an explanation outside of theism. For example, there are those who
have argued that God’s power is self-limited on purpose, and therefore God
cannot enter into moral relationship with human beings (See, Gersonides, 14th
cent. France). Another view is Martin
Buber’s “radical evil” (19th cent. Germany), which maintains that,
at times, God actually withdraws from humanity. Yet, others (like Alvin Reines,
20th cent. USA) affirm that evil is the necessary concomitant of
existence and is not willed by God.
Religious naturalism follows this lead. Based on the
insights of the great Dutch philosopher Spinoza (17th cent), who
argued that God, representing the totality of everything, is beyond good and
evil, and acts by necessity. As a Jewish religious naturalist, I, too, would similarly
suggest that God is simply the energy of the universe, who acts according to
the norms that are still not totally understood by us. God did not create the
coronavirus in order to punish humanity. That is how nature operates, and every
day we are trying to learn more about God’s mysteries. We, too, are part of
God, and owe our existence to the internal energy that keeps the universe
going. The more we know about God, the better our condition will be. We must
hang in there and put our heads together to study, investigate and analyze God
in order to improve our lot.
Westborough, MA (USA)
