Just east of Athens, there were terrible wildfires and more than 80 people horrendously died.
Bishop Ambrosios of Kalavryta, a leader in the Greek Orthodox church, said that these fires and deaths are due to the atheism of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
This is theologically unsound and practically unwise approach to such tragedies. Why did a particular natural disaster happen? Only God knows. We should not be presumptuous. It is hard to pinpoint someone’s atheism when a wildfire happens. Such words also make people think that Christian leaders are callous towards their suffering.
The Bishop should have said, “Our heart felt condolences to all victims of this wildfire. Let us help them in whatever way we can. These wildfires show that life is unpredictable. We are not the masters of this planet, much less of this universe. There is a Creator, who created the universe and us. He also loved us enough to send His Son Jesus to this world as our Savior. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead on the third day. There is forgiveness, hope and eternal life to everyone who believes in Jesus. Let us pray for the comfort of the loved ones of the victims”