Michele Bachmann, Tea Party member and US Republican presidential candidate, has been criticised for suggesting that recent US disasters – floods, small earthquakes – are a message from God.
What, exactly, is the basis of such criticism? Bachmann (and others) feel that the creator of the universe is trying to tell us something. Those ridiculing her feel this isn’t true, and that it’s ridiculous. But there’s no way to confirm who is right. And this is always thoroughly lost on those doing the attacking.
Some “thing” created reality. Some choose to call it God. Whatever the case, it stands to reason that this creative force has the power to cause a natural disaster as a way of having us take notice. Sure, there is still the question of God’s ultimate intentions here, what the Big Guy is really up to and why it’s important we listen or be good. But this doesn’t change the fact that divine intervention is feasible, that what Bachmann is saying is true.
I suspect the anger directed at Bachmann is actually about her willingness to conflate what she feels with objective truth.
While this is a legitimate concern, it cannot be remedied by using a rival certainty (God is not sending messages, you idiot) to prosecute your case.
