Dorothy Rowe

Why Has Public Opinion Turned against the McCanns?

17/9/07

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann raises again that most painful question, 'Why do bad things happen to good people?' As Kate McCann went on her pilgrimage from one holy place to another she was the living epitome of the saintly, suffering mother. Like Joseph, husband of Mary, Gerry McCann played a supporting role. In a society which no longer see angels and cherubim as part of the heavenly pageant, being real and imbued with the Holy Spirit but rather as sentimental fantasy figures, the McCann story could not end with little Madeleine becoming a cherub in the care of God and His angels. The only possible happy ending to this story was the restoration of Madeleine to her parents.

Time went by and the question of why good people suffer became more pressing. If good people suffer undeserved disasters, the belief in the Just World is thrown into doubt. In a Just World good people are rewarded and bad people punished. All religions teach the belief in a Just World, though they differ in how they define 'good' and 'bad', and 'reward' and 'punishment'. Many people who would describe themselves as not being at all religious will say that, if they could not believe that, in the end, goodness is rewarded and badness punished, they would find life unendurable.

Rather than abandon their belief in the Just World when good people are seen to suffer, many believers turn to the second part of their belief and argue, that, if bad people suffer, then that suffering is proof that the person is bad. Hence rumours from Portugal that that the McCann's played a part in their daughter's disappearance are eagerly seized upon by those who want to preserve their belief in the Just World. The popular media, who maintain their popularity by telling most of their stories in the framework of the Just World belief, now began doubting the truthfulness of the McCann's story.

How the McCanns are dealing with the massive threat to the Catholic version of the Just World belief I do not know, but I do know that this kind of issue is faced by untold numbers of people, and that the prevalence of the belief in the Just World goes a long way in explaining the incidence of depression.

In a Just World nothing happens by chance. Thus, when believers in the Just World suffer a significant personal disaster, they have a choice of blaming someone else for the disaster, or blaming themselves. This is, in effect, a choice between paranoia, or depression. Of course there is another choice and that is to see that we live in world where things happen by chance. But that means accepting that we cannot always absolve ourselves of all responsibility, nor can we keep ourselves safe by being good.