I'm uncomfortable with the idea of thanking God for whatever it is we have on Thanksgiving Day. Enough to eat, for instance. If we are truly blessed with the turkey on the table, if it is God who has bestowed the fowl upon us, then why hasn't He bestowed a few grains of rice on all the people in this world who are starving?

I feel the same unease when I hear someone who has survived a disaster thanking God for their salvation. What gives that person the idea, I wonder, that God decided to save him or her while letting another human being die? It strikes me as an amazing conceit. Is there any empirical evidence that the people who die in natural disasters are less devout than those who are "saved"?

I believe that during our lives we deal with the world as it is, with the mindless natural forces that are part of the world and with the consequences of human actions. I don't believe in a God who is busily putting turkeys on American plates while seeing to it that African children starve, or a God who reaches down to pluck true believers from burning buildings while others perish. It is up to us to make the best of this place while we are here. In fact, one might say, that is the whole point of the exercise.

If there is some ultimate justice it is not to be found in this world, but elsewhere.