I cannot respect any theory of evil that so neatly immunizes itself against empirical disconfirmation," said Gordon. "All theodicies requiring belief… - James Morrow

You see, Ebenezer, charity begs a crucial question. How did the bestower attain the position from which he now exercises his largesse?" My dead colleague cleaned his teeth with one of his many appended keys. "Through imagination and merit? Or through inherited privilege and ruthless exploitation?

Murray held his daughter at arm’s length. “Does God...er, visit you?”
“She doesn’t even whisper to me. I listen, but she doesn’t talk. It’s not fair.” God didn’t talk. The best news he’d heard since Gabriel Frostig announced his embryo. “Look Julie, it’s good she doesn’t talk. God asks her children to do crazy things. It’s good she doesn’t whisper. Understand?”
“I guess.”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh. Where’d the crab go? Is he looking for his friends?” A profound weariness pressed upon Murray. “Yes. Right. His friends. It’s good God doesn’t whisper.”

Somehow his grandfather had wrought an honorable and glamorous life from the sea. But that era was gone. The system was dying. Advising a young man to join the United States Merchant Marine was like advising him to go into vaudeville.