God on trial

God on Trial is a 2008 television play written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce. The play takes place in Auschwitz during World War II. The Jewish prisoners put God on trial in absentia for abandoning the Jewish people. The question is whether God has broken his covenant with the Jewish people by allowing the Germans to commit genocide. I like to present this as evidence why we as believers still believe. What to do with God in hell on earth? Do we find him lacking? Yes, but the real question is what to do next. Acceptance that it's not a one way relationship and turn to prayer. "So what do we do?" says one prisoner. "We pray," says the other, and they all rise, face one way and begin to pray. The scene fades to the present day, with visitors to Auschwitz standing stunned in the same space; the ghostly figures of the prisoners are seen among them, praying.

[media=https://youtu.be/0W9uRPuo7hc]

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

JSul3 · 70-79

It is documented that many survivors of the Holocaust, who were deeply religious, questioned where god was during this horrific event.
Many became atheist or agnostic. Who could blame them?
Perhaps god is an antisemite.

val70 · 51-55

@JSul3 The contrary is also documented. The end result is in many ways the state of Israel. Perhaps the gods were kind on that thought afterall

LeopoldBloom · M

@val70 Most Israeli Jews are secular, and a quarter of Israeli citizens aren’t Jewish at all.

val70 · 51-55

@LeopoldBloom Right, and what's your point? That the cake wasn't the one that you think it should be?

LeopoldBloom · M

@val70 I don't think it should be anything. It's just the way it turned out. But the idea that the Holocaust was good in any way because it led to the creation of Israel is disgusting. There had been movement toward a Jewish state in that area since the 1880s at least, and with the end of colonialism from the 1950s to the 1970s, its creation was inevitable. The British weren't going to hang onto the Mandate forever.

val70 · 51-55

@LeopoldBloom I think that there's another problem in your logic there. The Holocaust came first and many more people were of the opinion after it that the Jewish people needed a land of their own like in the promise by the British government decades earlier on the matter. It happened because of those two events: the Balfour Declaration and then the Holocaust

LeopoldBloom · M

@val70 Given the demand for a Jewish state and the decolonization movement starting in the 1950s, there would have been a Jewish state in some form by the 1960s at the latest. The question is whether there also would have been a Palestinian one. The Holocaust did accelerate the process however.