God's plan...

A lady rang a radio phone-in last night to reassure people that, despite appearances, “God is in control” and that all we have to do is to “put our faith in him”. He “has a plan for us”, she said blithely, and is “allowing scientists to investigate the coronavirus” and, in time, to come up with a cure. The call-in host was too polite, or too slow-witted, to point out that this kind of wishful thinking is incoherent nonsense.

The problem of theodicy - why a just God would allow evil in the world - is not a clever argument formulated by atheists. It is a problem engendered entirely by believers, insisting that their God is both omnipotent and omniscient. If God gets the credit for all good things - “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens” - then he surely can’t escape culpability for floods, typhoons, earthquakes, cancer… and virulant pandemics.

America is going up in flames and the pandemic is spreading around the world. If this is an example of God being “in control”, then planet earth is surely in need of better governance.

It's just possible that these shops - in Castleford - may never re-open...