Taking as his subject the Indian Ocean tsunami of Christmas 2004, former Dominican Friar Mark Dowd confronts a question that has troubled religious thinkers for centuries: how can belief in a benevolent God be reconciled with natural disaster?
In an attempt to answer this thorniest of questions, Dowd sets off on a deeply personal journey to the region to meet people affected, as well as speaking to leading figures from some of the region's religions, to ask where 2004's events leave faith in God. The question of how to reconcile a loving God with human suffering plagued Dowd in his own theological studies, but the tsunami's deadly force - as well as subsequent events in Pakistan and New Orleans - demands an answer even more forcefully.
Travelling through the disaster zones in Thailand, India and Indonesia, Dowd meets many people who lost their entire families. How can faith survive such an immense test?
He talks to leading Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians to explore theological explanations for Man's suffering. Many people believe that these events are simply the will of God, Karma or divine retribution.
But Mark wants to find an answer that satisfies deeper spiritual questions. He turns to leading theologians and religious thinkers meeting at the Vatican Observatory for enlightenment and meets the arch-sceptic Professor Richard Dawkins.
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