Problem of evil 2A

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

-the problem of evil and suffering has been called the “rock of atheism” (Hume) - a huge problem for religious people that believe in an all powerful and all loving
-Hick calls evil “physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness.” Evil is moral or natural.
-a ‘perpetual burden of doubt for the believer’ (Hick)

Question 2

Moral evil

Answer 2

Moral evil- “the evil that we as humans originate” (Hick) result of the actions of human beings.
-E.G we would call Hitler ‘evil’ as his actions led to untold suffering – the death of 100 million across World War II, as well as the attempted genocide. His beliefs and actions clearly constitute ‘moral wickedness’
- the notion of Jews as subhuman and deserving of death is clearly morally evil.
-His actions led to extreme ‘physical pain’ and ‘mental suffering’ across the world – the death, torture and despair which characterised the Second World War means that we would refer to the humans responsible as ‘evil’​
-if God is the ultimate Creator, then He has created humans like Adolf Hitler
- religious believers might question why an omnibenevolent God would create a monster who would cause such untold global suffering.
-if God is all-knowing, He would know exactly what sort of life Hitler was going to lead, and yet He still created him and allowed him to wreak the havoc that he did upon the world.​

​

Question 3

Natural evil

Answer 3

-NE “originates independently of human actions.”
-natural disasters, diseases and disabilities are powerful sources of pain and suffering in the world. E.g. cancer is one of the leading killers of humanity – it leads to ‘physical pain’ and ‘mental suffering’
-. It can lead to long periods of illness as well as premature deaths, preventing human lives from expressing their full potential.​
-NE is not the fault of humanity, so the question arises why would God allow this to happen?
-The question then arises why God would create a world with such natural evil? Take for example Mexico City earthquake of 2017. During that disaster, a school collapsed killing a number of children.

Question 4

Classical & modern (epicurus & mackie)

Answer 4

-Epicurus, in ancient Greece, questioned the existence of evil in the world and the existence of an all loving and all powerful God. If God loves us, he would want to stop the evil, and if he is all powerful, he would be able to. So why do we still have evil in the world?​
-Mackie constructed the inconsistent triad
-3 propositions ‘evil exists’, ‘god is all loving’ & ‘god is all powerful’ can’t all be true at the same time
-Accepting the existence of evil- religious people having to deny either god’s benevolence or omnipotence

Question 5

Modern development- unnecessary suffering (Rowe)

Answer 5

-the existence of intense & unnecessary suffering is the strongest argument against god
-E.G young girl raped & murdered
‘if the girl’s death was required for the ‘greater good’ why did sh have to be brutally tortured before her death
-unnecessary suffering could be serious for religious believers, of how suffering & evil could lead to good outcomes