Hitchens: Gods had nothing to do with this earthquake. But if you still want to pray, you may want to try this

Christopher Hitchens in his Slate column puts it loud and clear:

Earthquakes and tsunamis are to be expected and can even to some degree be anticipated. It's idiotic to ask whose fault it is. The Earth's thin shell was quaking and cracking millions of years before human sinners evolved, and it will still be wrenched and convulsed long after we are gone. These geological dislocations have no human-behavioral cause. The believers should relax; no educated person is going to ask their numerous gods "why" such disasters occur. A fault is not the same as a sin.


However, the believers can resist anything except temptation. Where would they be if such important and frightening things had natural and rational explanations? They want the gods to be blamed. After the titanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, the Muslims of Indonesia launched a hugely successful campaign to recruit terrified local people to Islamic repentance. Following the more recent Asian tsunami of 2004, religious figures jostled to provide every possible "explanation" of tectonic events in terms of mere human conduct. (It was widely asserted in earlier times that earthquakes were caused by sodomy, yet San Francisco still stands, and when it was last hit in 1906, it was rather more heterosexual than it is now. Hurricane Katrina inundated much of New Orleans but saw fit to spare the immoral French Quarter.)

Hitchens' words are perfect regarding douche bag Pat Robertson, or some Haitians who think the earthquake was caused by God.

To this, I would like to add that since no god had anything to do with the earthquake, there will be no god doing anything for the victims. So, it doesn't matter how much you pray, or to whom you pray, the pain and sorrow won't change for the Haitians.

But if you still want to pray, you may want to try this:

Dear God, we come humbly to you to ask for the strength and will that our Haitian brothers and sisters need in a time like this. We know that you, in your infinite wisdom and love will help them after the disaster that struck their lives. After all, you are an all-powerful, all-knowing God of love, and we are sure you know the needs of the Haitian people. Needs that arose after the earthquake, that you, in your infinite wisdom let happen, so that around 100,000 Haitians would feel your power. So we ask you for relief and grace for the Haitians, relief and grace that wouldn’t be necessary if you had not sent that earthquake. After all, an all-powerful, all-knowing Lord like you would know all the pain and suffering it would cause. And since you were the one who let this happen, knowing all the suffering this would inflict on the Haitians, why would you mind giving them relief and hope since it was you in the first place who sent them the Earthquake?

You know what Lord? Fuck you. Fuck you for being a dick to all these people. Fuck you for getting away with this, since all the mindless zombies that adore you fail to reason it was you who sent this, yet pray to you. Sincerely God, fuck you. And fuck me for even attempting to pray to you.

I’ll donate money to Unicef or some organization. I could get the same relief for my conscience by praying but it wouldn't have accomplished anything. Nothing would have been sent, nothing would have been done. I prefer to actually do something for those people.

So, yeah, fuck you God. Fuck you.

Thanks to Neece from Heaving Dead Cats for helping with the translation.