The Independent Variable - Matt Haugland


Tuesday, February 24, 2009

10 Reasons why I am an Atheist: #3

"By whatever standards we define the concept of evil, the very existence of evil negates the idea of deity, unless, that is, deity itself is evil! Perhaps it is!"

ASSUMPTIONS:
1. A non-evil God would not allow evil to occur.

VERDICT:
False assumption

DISCUSSION:
This is a very common argument, also known as "the problem of evil." Entire books have been written about this. There's no way I can completely address it in a couple paragraphs. But the issue may be simpler than it appears.

This really isn't an argument at all against the Christian God, who allows evil and has a purpose for it. Instead, it is an argument against a particular concept of God that conforms to what the author thinks a God should be.

I know it's very hard to look past all the evil and suffering in the world. And obviously there is no God, if "God" means one who makes the world exactly how we would want it to be. So we're left with 3 options: no God at all, an evil God, or a God who has a purpose for all this evil and suffering. Apparently, the author never considered the third option.

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