I read an article today by Richard Cohen on "Silence both challenges, erodes faith." He was writing on Pope Benedict's visit to Auschwitz. He was asking the same question that many have asked since World War II, and indeed the same question that Pope Benedict asked: "Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?" Cohen makes the argument that he doesn't even believe that God was there. He doesn't understand how anyone could experience Auschwitz and still believe in God.
It reminded me of a story (I do not know the degree of truth) I was told in graduate school where we pondered this problem. After World War II, a group of Rabbis put God on trial for the crimes committed in the concentration camps. After finding God guilty as charged, they went and said their evening prayers. Without God, life is absurd. Our very existence is dependent upon God. As inexplicable as Auschwitz is in light of God, everything is inexplicable without God.
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