Theodicy is the branch of theology that defends the attributes of God...
...against objections resulting from physical and moral evil.
"How could an all powerful and all good God allow evil?"
...or so the classic challenge goes.
The classic defense is to assert that evil arises from free will.
...and free will is essential to God's plan.
but what of natural evils?
Free will can explain certain evils.
When humans commit crimes against each others, for example.
But can human free will explain the carnage of a natural disaster?
In law, natural disasters are appropriately called acts of God.
...I have heard some argue that even these are caused by human free will.
That but for man's fall from grace in the garden of eden...
creation would remain perfect and without death or pain.
Others argue differently about how human will contributes to natural evil.
Houston, the Bayou City, is built around a series of slow-moving rivers.
These bayous, essentially marshlands, are prone to flooding.
Yet, despite the risks, Houston became the 4th most populous city of the US.
Necessity was the mother of invention
Over time, Houston developed dams, reservoirs, and channels for the bayous.
But time and time again, torrential downpours would still come...
Can human hubris be partly to blame for the wake of nature's destruction?
Houston's engineers designed the city's highways as overflow.
Evacuation is always risky for a ciy of 2.3 million (excluding exurbs)...
...but even more so when evacuees had to beat the floodwaters.
Past evacuations had been dismal failures, so the city hunkered down...
...for a hurricane that could become the city's costliest.
Bayou City...but also "The Energy Capital of the World"
Who can predict the disruption?
And yet...as this historic storm unfolds...
there is one other theodicy some will offer...
Perhaps...this is the price we pay for a world with life and beauty.
Houston owes its status as an oil capital to its watery heritage.
The life and death of microscopic organisms in the ocean...
has enabled modernity as we know it.
And the destructive hurricane is actually an engine...
...transporting fresh water, heat, and nutrients across the planet.
The so-called "anthropic" theodicy reconciles natural evil thusly:
A world that is conducive to life is paradoxically a world of danger.
As we curse natural disasters, we must recognize their ecological roles.
...or perhaps not?
(Does this theodicy make sense? Should people live in floodzones?)
Share your thoughts in the comments!
