It also underscores my
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism">agnosticism</a>
(or
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism">atheism</a>,
depending on how you define it). 
There's just no way to reconcile 
such a relentless destructive natural force with the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic">
Abrahamic</a> concept of a "personal", "loving" and "omnipotent" god.
If god were all those things, he'd prevent them.
But wildfires, like every other natural disaster, simply follow
the inexorable laws of chemistry and physics. There has never, ever been
a case when they didn't.

<p>And no, I absolutely refuse to accept the notion that disasters are
all somehow "part of god's plan". That's just a cop-out that religious
believers use to explain <em>anything</em> and to justify the most
horrible atrocities. Natural
disasters like this one are bad, but they can't hold a candle to
<em>really</em> horrible suffering like the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust">Holocaust</a>. It 
was entirely man-made, so god could have prevented it
merely by influencing human thoughts. He didn't even have to suspend
the laws of physics. But he didn't do that either.


<p>This is
basically just an example of the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_Evil"> Problem of
Evil</a> that has long convinced me that at least this particular
notion of a god just can't exist.
The <em>only</em> way to alleviate human suffering is for us humans
to first decide that it's important, and then use our understanding of the
natural world around us to avoid it.
That's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism">secular humanism</a>,
the only philosophy that has ever made any sense to me.