Reply #29: That's a bit of a stretch.

[Kutjara]

In any case, taking my remarks as an attack on Judaism is bordering on the oversensitive, I'd say.

Actually, many religions have disaster myths at their heart. The myths appear to fill the need to explain why some people survive and other don't. Attibuting it to divine providence rather than dumb luck is just so much more spiritually satisfying. Also, believing that survivors to be morally superior to or "more worthy" than fatalities avoids the problem of God being capricious or (perish the thought) evil. Those people died because they deserved to.

Believing that God intervenes in daily life to aid and comfort those in need is harmless enough. Believing that God reaches down to punish the unworthy is anything but harmless.