{"id":113822,"date":"2021-04-26T17:03:04","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T00:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113822"},"modified":"2021-04-26T17:03:04","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T00:03:04","slug":"has-god-forsaken-humanity-in-the-time-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/26\/has-god-forsaken-humanity-in-the-time-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Has God forsaken humanity in the time of the Coronavirus Pandemic?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Senaka Weeraratna\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>The horrifying tragedy that is unfolding before our very eyes worldwide but particularly in India, and God fearing traditional Christian countries such as USA, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, U.K., Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and Sweden raises fundamental questions not only in respect to humanity\u2019s capacity to combat the spread of the coronavirus that has taken a huge toll of over 3 .1 Million fatalities and over 147 million infections up to date, but also on the very existence of GOD on whom so much faith and trust has been placed by billions of people adhering to Abrahamic religions such as Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Islam and Judaism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is the colossal damage being done\nglobally by the Coronavirus pandemic evidence of God\u2019s wrath or of God\u2019s non \u2013\nexistence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have any Church authorities up to\ndate announced and stated that the Coronavirus Pandemic was nothing but a\ndemonstration of God\u2019s wrath and punishment for the sins of the victims? In the\naftermath of the Lisbon Earthquake (1755) Church leaders did exactly just that.\nExplained away the destruction of Lisbon by a trio of natural disasters as a\nmanifestation of God\u2019s wrath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alternatively, can the current\nongoing annihilation of the human race by the Coronavirus be explained away on\nthe basis of Karmic retribution?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is God defying Coronavirus a form of\nKarmic Retribution targeting mostly countries that have done wrong to others?\nespecially a number of select western countries that have a shared sordid past\nover a period of 500 years of rapacious colonialism all over the world,\ncommitting Genocide and Mass Murder of native people?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India is not lily white either. India&#8217;s\ntrack record of interference in the affairs of neighbouring countries including\ntraining and support for terrorist groups like the LTTE to commit genocidal\ncrimes and mass murder of innocent civilians in Sri Lanka before the brutal\nmurder of Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE, raises questions whether India too is now\nunder the watch of Providence meting out punishment to wrong doers. Those who\nevade accountability under man made laws will have to one day answer and face\npunishment under the fiat of Providence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8221; There were chaplains on the\nslave ships that ferried human cargo across the Atlantic. The atomic weapons\nthat obliterated civilian population centers in Japan were blessed and prayed\nover before being loaded onto U.S. bomber planes. The anti &#8211; semitic writings\nof Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation hero who purportedly nailed his 95\ngrievances to doors of a Catholic church, were used by the Nazi government\u2019s\npropagandists to convince German Christians that the imprisonment and expulsion\nof the Jewish people was a righteous cause. White slave owners in the South\nused the Bible to justify slavery and, a hundred years later, their descendants\nused the same Biblical texts to defend so-called separate but equal\u201d\nsegregation policies&#8221;. (Joe Forrest in &#8216;<em>Instrument\nof Mercy&#8217;<\/em>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<strong><em>A\nProgressive Christian&#8217;s Blog on Faith, Culture, Doubt, and Secularism)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Western countries that manipulate\nthe UN system including the UNHRC to project an unsustainable image as\n&#8216;Protectors of Human Rights&#8217; ( while evading accountability for the gross\nviolations of Human Rights of others ) must take full responsibility for the cynicism\nwith which the Human Rights discourse is now viewed all over the world. Soiled\nhands undermine the moral credibility of an undertaking that they touch.&nbsp;\n&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let alone Crimes against Humanity,\nwhat about Crimes against innocent animals which continue to this day in\ncountries like Brazil, Spain and Portugal where the barbaric BullFighting is\ntreated as a popular sport and shown on prime time TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is this not an appropriate time for\nreflection and catharsis on the part of humanity all over the world, and\nparticularly in countries badly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The purpose of this brief article is\nto open and explore significant religious and philosophical issues that have\narisen in the light of the bewildering and catastrophic Coronavirus Pandemic\nthat continues to rage havoc with no end in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Points for reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1)&nbsp;<strong>Treatment of Animals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>a) What we do to animals ruthlessly\nand brutally the Coronavirus is doing likewise to humans, generating so much\nfear, alarm and anxiety. Do humans deserve pity, when we have no pity for\ninnocent animals, who are eternal victims of our cruelty and inhumanity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>b) Should the yardstick of judging a\ncivilization and its progress, be based on massive development projects,\ntechnological inventions and innovations, political achievements, literature OR\nhow it treats all creatures, big and small, on earth humanely to the maximum\npossible extent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>c) It was Mahatma Gandhi who said\nthat a country\u2019s progress should be judged by the way it treats its animals and\nall other living creatures. When someone asked him what he thought about\nWestern civilization, his reply was: It\u2019s a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>d) In other words, what Gandhi meant\nwas that the West was not truly civilized, in a moral sense. If the West was\ncivilized, would it have conquered, occupied and exploited Asian, and African\ncountries and decimated the native people in the two Americas and Australia\nuntil they were almost extinct? And committed Crimes against Humanity, Mass\nMurder, and Genocide including Cultural Genocide?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>e) Many condemn racial\ndiscrimination, caste discrimination, and mistreatment of vulnerable communities\nbut hardly bother to refer to abhorrent treatment and mass killing of animals\non an industrial scale. Are these non \u2013 human living beings meant to be\nexpendable at the discretion, whim and fancy of human beings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>f) Recent expose of Wet Markets in\nWuhan and other parts of China showed obnoxious eating habits and brutal\nslaughtering practices that by any definition would be classed as barbaric and\nprimitive. Some Animals were shown plucked from the supermarket shelves and\neaten alive. Anything that moves on legs, crawls, wriggles or swims (live or\nkilled) is deemed edible and fit for consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>g) No health authority including the\nWHO has stated that flesh consumption is essential for human health survival.\nOn the contrary there is enough evidence to show that meat consumption is the\nprime cause of many Chronic diseases such as cancers, type II diabetes (T2D)\nand cardiovascular diseases (CVD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>h) The biggest problem is that all\nthose who consume and support the flesh consumption culture take the view uncritically\nand unscientifically that the earth belongs to humans and all other non \u2013 human\nliving beings have no rights to live out their natural life to the fullest\nexcept to serve human needs and requirements including sacrificing their\nprecious lives to fill the stomachs of humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>i) This indefensible view is largely\ninfluenced by the Biblical Injunction \u2018Kill and Eat Flesh\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>j) Ethically speaking it is an\nunsustainable argument. Buddhism in its very first precept rejects that view\nwithout qualification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>k) The Buddhist approach of peaceful\nco- existence between man and animal is supported by Jainism and several\nWestern Philosophers such as Schopenhauer and Albert Schweitzer (philosopher,\ntheologian, organist and physician, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in\n1952 )<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>l) Albert Schweitzer made a\nremarkable statement when he said that Until he extends the circle of\ncompassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.\u201d A man is\ntruly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is\nable to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>m) Spain is one of the major victims\nof the Coronavirus Pandemic. As much as humanity would like to extend its moral\nsupport to the people of Spain to overcome this crisis without further\nsuffering, it would be tantamount to a dereliction of moral duty if the very\nhumanity were not to raise the issue of Bull \u2013 fighting in Spain. Bull fights\nare not \u2018 fair fights\u2019 but a highly staged form of Spanish Govt. subsidized\nanimal cruelty that projects the misleading view that torturing and killing\nanimals for fun and amusement is acceptable. Animal cruelty of this kind should\nhave no place in our world today, even though it is presented as a deep \u2013\nrooted Spanish cultural tradition and sanctioned by the Spanish Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>n) Every year, approximately 250,000\nbulls are killed in bullfights. The countries where this cruel practice still\ntakes place are Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela,\nPeru, and Ecuador. All of these Catholic countries are reeling today under the\nonslaught of the Coronavirus Pandemic in varying degrees of intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>o) The detoxification of these\ncountries to get rid of the coronavirus must also extend to scrapping the\ninhumane cruel practice of Bull Fights, falsely categorized as a Sport and\nwhich has brought nothing but shame and disgrace on both the Government and\npeople of Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>p) The lock down all over the world\nhas confined the vast majority of humanity to their homes. It is discomforting\nand frustrating being caged, metaphorically speaking. Is this not exactly what\nhumans do to animals by forcing them to live within small spaces in cages in a\nvast prison euphemistically called a Zoo for the whole of their natural lives?\nTo serve a life sentence without committing a crime. When will this injustice\nto animals be undone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2.&nbsp;<strong>Do Prayers work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do prayers work? Is God listening?\nHow does one explain the silence of God at a time of mass upheaval and sorrow\namong believers who are dying in their thousands? Is the appeal to God through\nprayer to save the flock an exercise in futility? These are valid questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Atheists, Agnostics and Pagans\n(their numbers are rising rapidly in Europe) are least troubled by these\nquestions. The latest coronavirus related tragic events are an affirmation of\ntheir skepticism. It is more a challenge for the Believers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We in Sri Lanka have faced similar\nquestions and underwent this exercise in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombing\nin 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday,\nthree churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital,\nColombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated Islamic terrorist suicide\nbombings. Later that day, there were smaller explosions at a housing complex in\nDematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. Two hundred and fifty-nine people\nwere killed, including at least 45 foreign nationals and three police officers,\nand at least 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during\nEaster services in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like in the currently unfolding\nCoronavirus tragedy where the vast majority of the victims are citizens of\npredominantly Christian countries of Europe, the majority of the victims of the\n2019 Easter Sunday Attacks were ardent followers of Christianity, and praying\nin some of the hallowed Churches in the country e.g. St. Anthony\u2019s Shrine\n(dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua and designated a national shrine and minor\nbasilica), located at Kochchikade, Kotahena, Colombo 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These acts of violence targeting\nmainly Christians on a special Christian holiday inside Christian churches\ninvariably raised legitimate questions on God\u2019s benevolence and its powers of\ndivine intervention. Why did God fail in his own house i.e. the Church? And on\none of Christianity\u2019s holiest days i.e. Easter Sunday, where church attendance\nin Sri Lanka is very high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3.<strong>&nbsp;Does God Exist?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lisbon Earthquake (1755) and the\nFall out on changing religious beliefs in Europe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is said that one of the first\nmodern atheistic movements in Europe commenced after this tragedy, renouncing\nreligious ideologies as basis of critical thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We must go back in time. A terrible\ntragedy similar to the unfolding COVID \u2013 19 Pandemic in Europe and other\nWestern countries took place on a much bigger scale in Europe nearly 270\nhundred years ago when Lisbon (capital of Portugal) was subject to a series of\ncataclysmic earthquakes on the morning of Sunday November 01, 1755, which was\nAll Saints\u2019 Day and many people were attending the Churches whose architecture\nand building structure was not resistant to seismic tremors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The earthquakes caused massive damage\nto the city of Lisbon and demolished around 12,000 households, killing over\n60,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This unfortunate coincidence of the\nearthquake on a Sunday was definitely one of the factors that had contributed\nto the extremely high death toll in this event, as the Christian devotees that\nstood between the weak walls of the churches were crushed in large numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The city walls, houses and buildings\nwere not able to escape the 8.0 magnitude of the earthquake. Almost 85% of\nLisbon\u2019s buildings were reduced to rubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The earthquake had reportedly lasted\nabout 5 minutes, causing 5-meter fissures in length which split-opened in the\ncity center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition the tremors triggered\nthree (3) tsunamis of 6 meter wave length which were flooding the region wave\nafter wave, drowning and killing even more people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fires broke out soon after the\nearthquakes killing a lot more people. The flames lasted for 5 days and\ndestroyed many important documents and personal records of the Portuguese\npeople. Many had died from inhaling the smoke and collateral damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The resulting chaos forced the\ncitizens, including prisoners that used their chance of escape, to flee the\ncity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Survivors soon began questioning\nGod\u2019s existence and his absence at a time when God\u2019s help was most needed to save\nlives. The scale of suffering opened up many issues among thinkers, the clergy,\npoliticians, and philosophers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, the Church\nauthorities in Lisbon did actually announce and state that the earthquake was\nindeed a demonstration of God\u2019s wrath and punishment for the sins of the\nvictims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amusingly, the sinful Lisbon\u2019s\nred-light district had suffered only minor damages while the churches despite\nthe purported piety were completely obliterated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lisbon earthquake of 1755\nexerted a great cultural, religious and political impact. Europe was stunned by\nthe merciless destruction of one of the continent&#8217;s most opulent cities.\nLeading intellectual and philosophical figures\u2014Voltaire, Rousseau, Pope, Goethe\nand Kant, among others\u2014became fascinated by the question of divine intervention\nin human affairs. Lisbon, still home to the Inquisition, had been immolated:\nwas this evidence of God&#8217;s wrath or of God&#8217;s nonexistence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lisbon Earthquake also opened\nthe door to new genre of literature questioning God and wisdom of relying\nsolely on God and engaging in recital of prayers. Renowned French writer and\nphilosopher Voltaire produced a classic piece of satirical writing called\n\u2018Candide\u2019 (1759). The events discussed in the novel are often based on historical\nhappenings, such as the \u2018Seven Years\u2019 War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.\nVoltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies,\nand philosophers.&nbsp;<strong><em>Candide&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>satirizes various\nphilosophical and religious theories that Voltaire had previously criticized\nincluding the belief in God. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4) The Portuguse Inquisition in\nCeylon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Portugal and Spain were the two main\ncenters of the Catholic Inquisition, which lasted for several centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though confined mainly to Europe,\nthe Portuguese nevertheless introduced the Inquisition to countries in its\nAsian Empire such as Goa and Ceylon (later known as Sri Lanka). The Inquisition\nis infamous for its persecution of heretics which extended to Muslims and Jews\nin Europe, and Hindus and Buddhists in Goa and Ceylon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though both Portugal and Spain\namassed great wealth during their hey days as empire builders they remained\nbackward countries slow to evolve morally and ethically and distance themselves\nfrom barbaric cultural traditions such as Bull \u2013 fights. Unlike their\nneighbours in Northern Europe which broke away from the diktat of the Vatican,\nboth Portugal and Spain together with Italy were unfortunately held captive for\na long time in a stranglehold of religious dogma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was an intellectual aftermath\nof the Lisbon Earthquake disaster all over Europe. The cataclysm resulted in\nwidespread Enlightenment discussions about God and the natural world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tragedy of the Coronavirus\nPandemic has already rocked the world prompting wide ranging intellectual\ndebates about the natural world and God\u2019s place in human affairs. A new world\norder is emerging that can be expected to be vastly different to the one that\nis being left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is already attracting widespread\nattention and speculation among thinkers and policy makers. Would God continue\nto remain at the apex of the moral and spiritual world despite rising\nmisgivings in the mono \u2013 theistic Abrahamic world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buddhism has shown that it is\npossible to establish a highly effective and admirable ethical system for\nhumanity with benefits for all living beings seen as members of one moral\nuniverse, without reference to an all mighty creator God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>J. Takakusu<\/strong>, who was\nan internationally known Japanese Buddhist scholar, and&nbsp;Professor Emeritus\nof Sanskrit at the Tokyo Imperial University at the time of his death in 1945,\nhad this to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>if civilization is\nreally what the present civilization of the West represents, it is a curse\nrather than a blessing. The shortest cut to remedy its shortcomings and make it\ncomplete is . . . to spread to the West the culture, philosophy and faith of Buddhism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Takakusu Junjiro ,\nin&nbsp; Europe Ripe for Buddhism &#8221; (1927)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What will replace God if the belief\nin God becomes increasingly unsustainable in the wake of catastrophes such as\nthe Coronavirus Pandemic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Senaka Weeraratna<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See also<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Voltaire laments the destruction of Lisbon in an\nearthquake and criticises the philosophers who thought that all\u2019s well with\nthe world\u201d and the religious who thought it was God\u2019s will\u201d (1755)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/quotes\/243\">https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/quotes\/243<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/media\/W1siZiIsInBlb3BsZS8zODA0L0QnYXByw6hzX01hdXJpY2VfUXVlbnRpbl9kZV9MYV9Ub3VyLF9Qb3J0cmFpdF9kZV9Wb2x0YWlyZSxfZMOpdGFpbF9kdV92aXNhZ2VfKGNow6J0ZWF1X2RlX0Zlcm5leSkuanBnIl0sWyJwIiwidGh1bWIiLCIyMDB4MzAwXHUwMDNlIl1d\/D%27apr%C3%A8s_Maurice_Quentin_de_La_Tour%2C_Portrait_de_Voltaire%2C_d%C3%A9tail_du_visage_%28ch%C3%A2teau_de_Ferney%29.jpg?sha=5220991f9dcacdcf\" alt=\"D%27apr%c3%a8s maurice quentin de la tour%2c portrait de voltaire%2c d%c3%a9tail du visage %28ch%c3%a2teau de ferney%29\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>From:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/titles\/voltaire-toleration-and-other-essays\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Toleration and Other Essays (Voltaire)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>By:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/people\/voltaire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Voltaire<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his long\npoem On the Lisbon disaster; or an Examination of the Axiom, &#8220;All is\nWell\u201d (1755) Voltaire (1694-1778) laments the death of a hundred thousand whom\nthe earth devours\u201d and reminds us how fragile human life is and how close we\nall are to death from such cruelties of fate\u201d :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unhappy mortals! Dark and mourning\nearth!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Affrighted gathering of human\nkind!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eternal lingering of useless pain!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Come, ye philosophers, who cry,\nAll\u2019s well,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And contemplate this ruin of a\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behold these shreds and cinders of\nyour race,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This child and mother heaped in\ncommon wreck,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These scattered limbs beneath the\nmarble shafts\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A hundred thousand whom the earth\ndevours,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who, torn and bloody, palpitating\nyet,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Entombed beneath their hospitable\nroofs,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In racking torment end their\nstricken lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To those expiring murmurs of\ndistress,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To that appalling spectacle of\nwoe,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Will ye reply: You do but\nillustrate<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The iron laws that chain the will\nof God&#8221;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Say ye, \u2018er that yet quivering\nmass of flesh:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God is avenged: the wage of sin\nis death\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What crime, what sin, had those\nyoung hearts conceived<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That lie, bleeding and torn, on\nmother\u2019s breast?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Did fallen Lisbon deeper drink of\nvice<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Than London, Paris, or sunlit\nMadrid?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full Quote<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About this Quotation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The devastating\nearthquake in Haiti recalls the impact the Lisbon earthquake of November 1755\nhad on European society. In his later writings Voltaire referred to it\nrepeatedly but his most extended commentary was in a long poem he wrote on it\nwhich had the rather odd subtitle or an examination of the axiom, all is\nwell.\u201d As in his philosophic tale&nbsp;<em>Candide, or Optimism<\/em>&nbsp;Voltaire\nwanted to attack the complacency of many European thinkers such as Leibnitz\nthat this was the best of all possible worlds\u201d. Voltaire thought the\nearthquake had a very different lesson, namely that nature can be capricious\nand does not respect human life. If there were to be a happier, more\nprosperous, and more just world, it would have to be one created by human\nactivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/quotes\/243\">https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/quotes\/243<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senaka Weeraratna\u00a0 The horrifying tragedy that is unfolding before our very eyes worldwide but particularly in India, and God fearing traditional Christian countries such as USA, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, U.K., Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and Sweden raises fundamental questions not only in respect to humanity\u2019s capacity to combat the spread of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}