美國人對上帝是否故意用苦難警告世人的看法

[Daniel_Cheung]

Dealing with evil: Candidates disagree
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-09-18-baylor-evil-tragedies_N.htm

...God sometimes allows major tragedies to occur as a warning to sinners.
Group % Disagree % Agree % Undecided
Total 46 40 14
Evangelical Protestant 33 55 12
Black Protestant 32 59 9
Mainline 53 33 14
Catholic 48 36 16
Jewish 64 20 16
Other 55 34 11
None 71 6 23

God sometimes causes major tragedies to occur as a warning to sinners.
Group % Disagree % Agree % Undecided
Total 68 17 15
Evangelical Protestant 62 25 13
Black Protestant 61 30 9
Mainline 72 12 16
Catholic 70 13 17
Jewish 76 4 20
Other 72 12 16
None 72 6 22

Source: The Baylor Religion Survey, the Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University. Based on a survey of 1,700 U.S. adults conducted in fall 2007 with a margin of error +/- 4 percentage points.

[Daniel_Cheung]

這問卷調查有趣的地方是，兩問題只有一個分別，苦難若是由上帝而來，那會是上帝「容許的」抑或是上帝「促成的」？大多數宗教人士不願相信上帝促成苦難，多取「容許論」。「容許論」中，以福音派和黑人為主。黑人有這信念，大概是因為對社會不公義的一個反射，覺得上帝若存在，必會用苦難懲罰人。至於福音派，可能是因為他們較多人接受加爾文式預定論，要堅持上帝有無上的主權，但又不願說上帝要為苦難負責，所以使之美化為「容許」而不是「促成」。