In Avengers: Infinity War (directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2018), Thanos believes that wiping out half of life will “save” the universe, but his solution is monstrous because it assumes he knows better than every other moral standard. In a quieter way, Israel’s turn to Baal is a theological version of the same impulse: trusting a destructive alternative more than the true Lord, and out of this misguided trust, chaos and violence ensue.
A Destructive Alternative
