Questions for Atheists:Why is There Evil? (Part 1)

Last updated on: September 6, 2012 at 12:19 am by Leah Libresco

Questions for Atheists:Why is There Evil? (Part 1) 2012-09-06T00:19:42-04:00 Leah Libresco

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This post is part of a series responding to Michael Egnor’s Eight Questions for New Atheists. You can read through all my answers to Egnor’s questions.

I’ve not really even been that bothered by the problem of theodicy, so, unfortunately, I can’t make good use of what I imagine Egnor though would be the most attractive question for atheists. I think most discussions of evil/theodicy can be split into two separate categories: evil that befalls people and evil that is committed by people, so I’ll tackle this question in two parts.

Evil that happens to people

This category includes harm that befalls people as a result of natural accident (earthquake, illness, etc) and deliberate action by others. This is the ‘why bad things happen to good people’ question.

For an atheist the answer is easy: there is no mechanism by which we can escape the logical or physical consequences of the actions of others or of nature. If it begins to rain, we will get wet, regardless of whether we deserve it or how urgent it was to stay dry. There is no way to negotiate with a hurricane, and, although you may try to reason with an enemy soldier, once she fires her gun, there is no arguing with her bullet. As long as there is the possibility of naturally occurring harm and/or deliberately engineered harm by others and if we do not have the superhuman foresight and power that would be necessary to be able to avoid these occurrences, undeserved evils will occur.

I think this exact explanation is available to religious people as well. Even someone who believes in occasional miracles would be hard-pressed to argue for a world of constant intercession to protect us from the consequences of other people’s actions. You quickly end up undermining the entire principle of causality and with it, the possibility of reasoning about our own actions and making reasonable choices. (I discuss this in more detail in my answer to Why is there Regularity/Law in Nature). This line of argument works as well for theists as for atheists; C.S. Lewis makes it very well in Mere Christianity.

There is no reason for anyone, theist or atheist, to be surprised or betrayed by the fact that nature can do us harm. Given our limited knowledge of the scope of our actions, we should be similarly unsurprised that other people do us unintentional or unwitting harm. The only possible avenue of objection is to the fact that people do intentional harm to others. We may justifiably ask why that particular evil exists.

Part Two of this answer, addressing Evil Chosen by People is now up!

Apologetics

eight questions

problem(s) of evil

Previous Post

November 28, 2010

Marriage, Contract, and Restraint

Next Post

December 2, 2010 Questions for Atheists: Why is there Evil (Part 2)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Jesus do just before raising Lazarus from the dead?

Select your answer to see how you score.

He wept He prayed He preached He climbed a hill