Acts of God

A while back I wrote a blog about the difference between Sarcasm and Irony. In it I concluded that sarcasm is the purview of man and that irony is the purview of God. I was reminded of this during the recent flooding in the northeast and accounts of insurance companies weaseling out of paying by declaring the flooding to be an Act of God.

I know you can get special riders on your insurance to cover flooding and I was just wondering if they call it the Irony Rider?

I've always been confused by what is considered an Act of God and what isn't. Floods are a grey area. If a dam bursts or a flood control mechanism made by man fails then sometimes you are covered. If the skies open up and a honkin' lot of water comes down to wash you away you probably aren't covered. During Katrina people were covered for the hurricane but not the storm surge. I guess splitting hairs can save millions (of dollars).

Most people feel good about having insurance and I guess that's what we are really paying for. That good feeling we get when we write the check every month. I'm sure the insurance companies feel good cashing the checks and they probably feel even better when they find a way to weasel out of paying up. It's like welshing on a bet. (By the way, were the Welsh poor losers? Where did that phrase come from?)

So back to Acts of God. Why does my insurance cover damage caused by lightening and not flooding? They both come out of the sky, delivered by a vengeful and ironic God, don't they? And what about wind? I think that wind is mostly covered.

Do the more socially liberal insurance companies cover more things because they deny the existence of God? Or don't they have the courage of their religious convictions when it comes time to pay up on millions of dollars in claims?

And what about atheists who want to buy insurance that covers Acts of God? Can you imagine the irony of an atheist, first, asking for that kind of insurance and, second, arguing with the insurance company about what is and isn't an Act of God?

Finally that brings me to different religions. Are there certain acts of God attributed to the God of one religion and denied by believers of a different religion? Say, for instance, do insurance companies in Arab countries consider terrorism to be an Act of God? And if they don't why are they doing it in His name and hope that He will reward them for it?

Maybe being a passenger in a terrorist car bomb is like being the ultimate insurance rider of an Ironic God.