In his response to "If there's a god, then why is there suffering," Robert Cooper's observation in his May 22 letter ("The bond that all humans share") that "Suffering creates need, and need leads to human innovation"' sounds like an argument for Christianity as capitalism. He suggests that "what may seem cruel to us may just very well be indicative of not only our lack of knowledge but inability to understand."
Cooper's god sounds much like the authoritarian parent or government who, when questioned, responds with "grownups or rulers know best." It's all right to be innovative, but ask the big questions and you get knocked back. God as a free market authoritarian? All rather Darwinian really.
hugh keith-johnston
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