Human societies experience natural calamities such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods and storms. Societies also experience man-made catastrophes like wars and the manufacture of weapons that take the lives of innocent people.
In both the cases, the human soul remains the same without distinctions whether in the East or West. Calamities strike all people, black or white regardless of their religion, all are equally harmed and victimised.
Some people rejoice when a natural disaster strikes a certain nation that differs in terms of politics, ethnicity or religion. Others still position themselves as deputies of God and judge people accordingly.
Consequently, they regard the calamities affecting people with different religions as divine rage even if the victims are women and children.
Some people apply double standards, if a society, with which he is in religious or ethnic accord is struck by disaster and they create a media frenzy and scramble into action and they respond by sending aid and relief materials.
When, on the opposite side, a different society is affected they keep silent and shy away from providing assistance. They can even hamper relief efforts or issue pre-judgments on religious grounds.
Today as we live in one human community we should overlook the differences of genesis such as race and skin colour and acquired differences such as language and religion.
These differences pertain to the laws of the universe and they have positive aspects when viewed from the perspective of the broad human essence or from the comprehensive compassion of Gnosticism.
However, when we view them from the narrow angle of religion, race or sect then strife ensues.
If we could not overlook that at times of prosperity we should at least do so at times of calamity and distress. Of course, crises strike all. When coronavirus initially afflicted China, some nations jubilated for religious or political reasons with some considering it as divine rage.
A short time afterwards the virus spread all over the world and many countries imposed restrictions and lockdown of schools, mosques and markets. The world was only saved by science which dealt with the virus naturally without discrimination among whosoever.
Natural disasters know no discrimination based on faith, race and skin colour because they are part of the law that emerged since the beginning of the universe.
Some areas are repeatedly affected by earthquakes, others are affected by floods, cyclones or disease outbreaks. Other places suffer from water scarcity, desertification and heat or cold waves. All of these are natural conditions resulting from the law of nature but they are wrongly linked to theology and are attributed theological interpretations.
Accordingly, we strike discrimination based on the place or society struck by calamity. When calamities strike societies that bear similarity with our own in terms of religion then it is divine compassion otherwise its divine rage, according to some people.
Even at the individual level, everybody suffers from illnesses and other setbacks. Some people have hearing or vision impairment, others are born with deformities. Other people fall sick due to malnutrition or old age. All these conditions have natural causes that fall within the domain of science.
God is the symbol of mercy among people, He had created them differently with natural and acquired variations. Had it not been for these variations, man wouldn’t be able to ameliorate the land. The love and mercy of God lies in the differences among people. Changing the differences into conflict and discrimination in the name of God is tantamount to endorsing the theory of evil on the part of non-believers.
Therefore, we should look at the human societies and the catastrophes afflicting them through the eye of love and compassion and humanitarian perspective. We should come together as one in helping calamity sufferers regardless of their religion, race, skin colour or country.
This applies exactly for the recent horrific earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria killing hundreds of people. Human society should stand together to help alleviate the distress and reconstruct what was destroyed. We should help them by providing medicines and psychological support to the survivors.
The same applies for any other nation or race. We should overtake our differences at times of distress and change them into creative and constructive elements. The criteria for distinguishing between true and false lies in distress rather than prosperity.
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