Some think it could be urban legend, but we do think that this actually happened in Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. The Jews, holding a covenant, a legally binding agreement if you will, with God, decide that God has broken the covenant. After all, how can bad things happen to good people; but not any old good people – God’s chosen people? Surely such preference entitles the Jews to a little safer passage along Earth’s historical timeline, though persecution after persecution? The only logical thing to do, it appeared, was to put God on trial for breaking such an agreement.
The problem of evil is no better investigated in dramatic narrative than in the excellent 2008 BBC drama of this remarkable event in all its terrible context. I urge any and all who have not watched this to do so. It’s thoughtful, philosophical, critical and very moving. And it’s written by a Catholic, though feels overtly secular.
