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Letter: Monday’s eclipse, mass murder, sports and the vagaries of divine intervention

Proposing that an all-powerful creator of the universe alters the course of history just for you, while with your approval he ignores the far more dire needs of so many others? That’s not a virtue to be praised.

(Todd Heisler | The New York Times) Mireya Munoz of Eagle Pass prays at the end of the total eclipse while viewing the solar eclipse in Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday, April 8, 2024.

(Todd Heisler | The New York Times) Mireya Munoz of Eagle Pass prays at the end of the total eclipse while viewing the solar eclipse in Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday, April 8, 2024.

Oh, for gosh sake.

Monday’s eclipse had nothing to do with God’s wrath over the gays and other abominations — the proclamations of Marjorie Taylor Greene others notwithstanding.

Just as he willfully didn’t intervene to help when 6 million Jews were slaughtered during the Holocaust. Or when children were being sexually abused and murdered. Or in the many other atrocities and disasters he’s ignored.

Such were perfect choices for their all-knowing, all-powerful, all-perfect God — according to essentially every believing Christian and Mormon, “progressives” as well as “fundamentalists.”

Apparently, He’s way more interested in fixing the outcome of NCAA basketball games and other sporting events, and in meddling round with their players’ lives.

Just ask Dawn Staley (“‘We serve an unbelievable God,’ says Dawn Staley after South Carolina claims championship”). Or Paige Bueckers (“Paige Bueckers continues to praise God after wins. Here’s what she’s said about her faith in the past”). Or the multiple other athletes and fans who praise his divine intervention on their behalf.

Because: Priorities.

PSA: The absurdity doesn’t depend on which miracles you preach. The absurdity arises from preaching miracles at all.

But proposing that an all-powerful creator of the universe alters the course of history just for you, while with your approval he ignores the far more dire needs of so many others?

That’s not a virtue to be praised. It’s the height of self-indulgent narcissism.

Gregory A. Clark, Salt Lake City

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