Monday, February 28, 2011

Essay: "The Problem of Good"

The "Problem of Evil" is the question of how evil can exist in the world if there is an all-knowing and all-powerful God who is good. It's a doozy. But evil also seems to be problem for secular folks, as well. Whenever anything terrible happens, when someone absconds with the trust funds or when a woman drowns her kids in the bathtub, it always seems like people just can't believe it (as satirized in this Onion article) and search desperately for a reason.


Monday, February 14, 2011

Essay: "Predators"

To see my African pictures, click here.

I recently took a three week trip to Africa which included a four day safari in Tanzania.  You have a guide who drives you around the national parks (including Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti) in a big SUV with a roof that lifts up so you can stand on your seat and look at the animals.  The animals are quite accustomed to the vehicles and so you can drive right up to them but they are otherwise living in an entirely natural environment.  Part of the magic of safari is that you never know what you might see (or, disappointingly, fail to see).

We were lucky and we saw all of the so-called big five animals.  Everyone has a favourite animal but, in general, most people seem to prefer the predators to the herbivores.