The Archbishop of Canterbury,Justin Welby has admitted that the terrorist attacks in Paris had made him doubt the presence of God . He said he was left asking why the attacks happened and where God was when the militant jihadis struck.
He said he reacted with ‘profound sadness’ at the events, particularly as he and his wife had lived in Paris when he was an oil executive.Appearing on Songs Of Praise, to be broadcast on BBC 1, when asked if these attacks had caused him to doubt where God was, he said:
‘Oh gosh, yes,’‘Saturday morning, I was out and as I was walking I was praying and saying: “God, why – why is this happening?“Where are you in all this?” And then engaging and talking to God. Yes, I doubt.’‘Like everyone else – first shock and horror and then a profound sadness. And, in my family’s case, that is added to because my wife and I lived in Paris for five years.'It was one of the happiest places we have lived and to think of a place of such celebration of life seeing such suffering is utterly heart-breaking.'But he added that he nevertheless had faith that God was alongside people in their suffering and pain.
But he warned against a knee-jerk military response, saying:
‘Two injustices do not make justice.‘If we start randomly killing those who have not done wrong, that is not going to provide solutions.So governments have to be the means of justice.'The Bible tells us that they are put there by God with the sword for justice, but they also have to lead us into a place where peace can be established."The Archbishop first admitted last year that there were times when he questioned whether God existed.
