Why, God, why?

Atlanta, USA – It's one of the first questions a child asks, and one that recurs throughout our lives: Why?

Why does God, whom many believe to be all–powerful and benevolent, allow so much pain and suffering? Throughout wide swaths of southern Asia right now, the death toll from Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis keeps climbing with no end in sight.

"Events like this always have been a great test of faith for people, who ask 'Where is God?' " said Dennis McCann, professor of religious studies at Agnes Scott College and a former Catholic priest.

"Whether it's personal tragedies or massive tragedies like this one," McCann continued, "it becomes pretty clear that if you are a believer, part of the process of growing in faith is struggling with what experience is teaching you: That if God is good, the goodness of God is not tailored to our personal convenience or our personal desires.”

"Orthodox Christians such as myself have to recognize that if God is all–powerful, there's no point in denying that God is involved in the sufferings of this Earth. What you have to have is faith and trust that there is a purpose," he said.

With such a huge, age–old question looming over the tragedy in Asia, The Atlanta Journal–Constitution asked representatives of a variety of faiths and philosophies to reflect on what their faith tells them when facing this kind of tragedy. These are edited versions of their responses.