Dinesh D’Souza is no stranger to controversy. A bestselling author (What’s So Great About Christianity) and conservative speaker who served in the Reagan White House, his stances on race, President Obama, liberals, and 9/11 have raised many an eyebrow. His new book, Godforsaken: Bad Things Happen. Is There a God Who Cares? Yes, Here’s Proof. (Tyndale, Mar.) is set to do the same. D’Souza tells Religion BookLine that in Godforsaken he attempts to address the age-old question of why God permits suffering and evil.
RBL: What was your inspiration for writing Godforsaken?
D’Souza: Atheists. I have been debating arguments like "religion is dangerous" or "there is no proof of God," with them. But when those arguments get beaten back, they often fall on "Yes, but God is an indifferent, cruel ruler." I realized that much of what we call "atheism" is actually "wounded theism." Several atheists don't disbelieve in God so much as they are angry and disappointed with God. Then I realized that many believers--many Christians--are also angry and disappointed with God, especially when they encounter serious suffering. I wrote Godforsaken to tackle a problem that is, oddly enough, common to believer and unbeliever.
RBL: What do you want readers to learn from Godforsaken?
D’Souza: I would like Christians and religious people to read Godforsaken and get a better understanding of why God has designed the world in the way he has, to see the wisdom of the divine plan, and also to understand that God has good reasons for doing things the way he does. I would like Godforsaken to be read and taken seriously by skeptics and unbelievers. There are good reasons, supposed by modern science, for why the world is constructed in this way.
RBL: What is your argument for why there is suffering and evil, and how can Christians accept both within their core beliefs?
D’Souza: God designed the world in this particular way because, given his goal of creating free, rational creatures like us, there is no other way the world could have been constructed by God or anyone else. Omnipotence doesn't mean the power to do anything; it means the possession of unlimited power to do what is possible. So if there is only one possible way to make a universe containing humans, then omnipotence means that God can do that if he wants to. And who says there is only one way to make a universe containing humans? Remarkably, the answer to this question is: modern science. So I make my case on the basis of modern physics, modern astronomy, and modern biology.
RBL: Why is suffering a more difficult concept for Christians than other religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism? How do those religions explain it?
D’Souza: Suffering is not such a big problem in Buddhism and Hinduism because those religions are based on the remarkable notion that suffering is an illusion. In fact, Buddhism and Hinduism raise the prospect that the whole world is an illusion. Our experience of the world is a kind of "veil," which misleads us into thinking that suffering and evil are real. Enlightenment comes from recognizing that this is not so. So the Buddhist answer to suffering is to recognize its illusory nature, and then you have nirvana. Hinduism operates along the same lines, although in Hinduism there is also an emphasis on reincarnation. Reincarnation "solves" the problem by saying there is no undeserved suffering. All the suffering you endure in this life is the merited consequence of what you have done in previous lives. And all the bad things you do now will come back to haunt you in subsequent lives. This is the way Hinduism affirms cosmic justice. I find the solution unsatisfactory, but you have to admit that if the premise is true--if there is reincarnation--then the problem of suffering is indeed solved.