How Can I Have Faith in the Face of Horror?

Today, a friend of 30 years challenged me in the following email to explain how I can believe in God or have faith, with the news of how a depraved and damaged Austrian father tortured his daughter for the past 24 years.---Bethany
(Baby Navia and Mama Nagu. A Mother's Love affirms my faith.)
Hi Bethany,
Have you been reading on the news web pages about that horrific man in Austria who imprisoned his daughter at age 18 in the basement of his house with no windows, no daylight and no way out for 24 years and then repeatedly raped her where she had 7 children by him? She had twins at one point and one died from not having what it needed and he burned the dead baby in the furnace. He told his wife and people she ran away at 18 and then he took in and raised 3 of her children saying his daughter had left them on the doorstep because she could not raise them. Three other children, ages, 5, 18, and 19 never saw the light of day and stayed imprisoned in the cellar with their mother. The only reason they were found out was the oldest daughter started to have convulsions and the mother talked her father into taking her to the hospital where she is still in an induced coma.
The hospital suspected something else was wrong and the mother told them what had happened to her after they promised her she would never have to see her father again.
This piece of garbage that poses as a human being robbed this woman and her children of their childhood and their lives.
It is one of the most horrific stories of cruelty to someone I have ever heard.
My question is how can there be a god to allow this to happen? How can you have faith when this was allowed to happen to this poor woman and her children? B.P.

I thank B.P. for her question, and offer up these thoughts:

For as long as some people have professed a faith in God, other people have asked, “How can bad things happen to good people? Where is your God now?” Evil people especially provoke this question, from Hitler to Hussein. In my own family, we have wondered about untimely death...why my grandmother died in childbirth, leaving behind five young children…including my Father, her last baby.

The short answer for me is that, my God (a.k.a. the Divine, the Universe, the Higher Power, the Higher Consciousness) is Love, the energy within that fuels us to say, “What that man did was sick, disturbed and terribly cruel. This tragedy runs counter to everything we believe about families and relationships.”

The revulsion men and women around the world feel about this inhumanity is precisely why I have faith. How else can we explain our shared, innate sense of right and wrong? Each of us carries an inbuilt guiding light, that directs us to distinguish good from bad. I believe this inner direction is the Divine.

I have faith that the vast majority of people on this Earth are caring, loving, and decent. The Austrian Horror Show is a one in three billion family anomaly, quite possibly caused by generations of sexual abuse and/or mental illness. Do you remember this line from Anne Frank's diary, "In spite of everything, I still believe people are good at heart." I do, too.

If you are asking me why did God allow this man to commit this crime, or why didn’t God stop this man, I don’t believe in a God that resembles a Genie in a Bottle or the Wizard of Oz. We individuals are the expression of Creation, you and I are the agents of the Higher Power, we represent the Life Force. God acts through us.

The Presence of Love on this Planet, which I believe is the energy that sustains us, does not mean that children won’t die of leukemia, companies won’t manufacture bullets or innocents won’t be killed by drunk drivers.

What the Presence of Love (referred to as God or Allah by some) means is that when we learn of sad events, we automatically reach out to those who are hurting, to reduce the suffering, to comfort the victims and their mourners. Being a woman of faith doesn’t mean I believe Nothing Bad Will Happen. It means that when I hear about it, I will naturally be drawn to offer mercy, support and hope to those who suffer. It means that I will be the Presence of Love in the lives of those who are in pain, fear, anxiety, depression or grief.

Just last month, B.P., you wrote me of your involvement in a risky rescue of a young mother and her toddler in another state, virtual captives of an abusive husband. Your willingness to help a stranger in danger affirmed and strengthened my faith in a mighty way. You did the right thing. You Loved.

My experience of God or my sense of a Higher Power defines and shapes how I look at the world and how I respond in the world. My God isn’t Mr. Fix It or a Celestial Policeman. My God is the Greater Self, the Universal Consciousness that makes the Human Race stand up and cry out, “How could a father do that to his daughter?” To paraphrase one of the great 12 Steps of the AA tradition, (step 2): I believe a Power greater than myself can restore us to sanity.

That power is Love or God, and the sanity we seek is a strengthened global commitment to humane treatment of all living things, with greater protection against abuse and neglect of those most vulnerable members of the human family: women, children and elders.

In the shadow of this human tragedy, let’s pledge to root out abuse and neglect from our own families and communities, and assure all children are wanted, fed, safe and respected. Witnessing Acts of God like tsunamis and hurricanes, let us remember to Act as God. More than ever, what the world needs tonight is Love, Sweet Love.

(A caring mother in Hyderabad makes sure her son gets his morning wash.)