3. Types of evil
NATURAL – evil caused naturally in the world e.g. earthquakes, volcanoes
MORAL – caused by people e.g. murder, war
4. The logical problem of evil
A God who’s omnibenevolent will have a motive to get rid of evil
A God who’s omnipotent will have the ability
Evil exists in the world
Therefore God doesn’t exist, or he is not
omnibenevolent/omnipotent
5. The evidential problem of evil – Rowe
If evil resulted in a greater good then suffering might be justified
but the act is still considered evil
God could prevent suffering without removing a greater good
Unnecessary evil points to the non-existence of the God of classical
theism
6. The inconsistent triad – Mackie
God is omnipotent
God is omnibenevolent Evil exists
Evil makes the existence
of God impossible. Evil
and God are
incompatible. God
cannot be omnipotent
and omnibenevolent
and evil exist at the
same time.
7. The inconsistent triad – Hume
Only two of the three can exist alongside each other
Either God isn’t either omnipotent or omnibenevolent, or evil
doesn’t exist
The consequences of evil are too prominent to deny so it does exist
Therefore God must not be omnipotent or omnibenevolent, or he
doesn’t exist
8. Augustine
The bible shows God is wholly good
He created a perfect world and created all things good
Evil isn’t good therefore God cannot have created evil
Evil doesn’t exist, it is simply the privation of good
Evil comes from humans and fallen angels who have free will but have chosen to turn away
from God
Perfection was ruined by human sin
It wouldn’t be right for God to intervene with suffering so God is justified in allowing us to
suffer
He sent Jesus to earth to take the punishment for sin so that all believers can be saved
9. Criticism – Schleiermacher
It’s a logical contradiction to say a perfectly created world went
wrong
Either the world wasn’t perfect to start with or God made it so that
there was the possibility the world could go wrong
It’s God who’s to blame
10. The free will defence
Free will is essential to humanity
We need evil to have free will
We need evil and free will to be able to make our own choices about believing in God
STRENTHS WEAKNESSES
Swinburne – if God intervened it would
jeopardise freedom, God can’t act like an
overprotective parent
Vardy – natural evil doesn’t always bring
about good
Plantinga – can’t always choose God or
wouldn’t be free, enables humans to get
into heaven
Mackie – God has the capability of
creating free will where all people choose
good and don’t want to sin
Blames humans not God
Logical
11. Irenaeus
Evil traced back to free will
God didn’t make a perfect world
Evil plays a valuable plan in God’s plan
Goodness and perfection had to be developed by humans
Evil allows us to develop virtues
Evil and suffering will be overcome and humanity will live in heaven
12. Criticisms of Irenaeus
Suggests everyone goes to heaven
Challenges don’t always result in positive human development
Love can’t be expressed by allowing suffering
13. Hick
If God made humans perfectly we’d all be robots
Humans need free will
God had to create humans at an epistemic distance
In this way, God isn’t so close to humans that we have no choice
but to believe in him
14. Process thought – Griffin
God didn’t create the universe as it’s an uncreated process
God is part of the universe, therefore part of suffering with us
God’s role in creation was to start off the evolutionary process
God doesn’t have total control
He can’t stop evil
God’s actions are justified as the universe produced sufficient good to outweigh evil
WEAKNESSES
Denies God’s omnipotence
Questions whether a limited God is worthy of worship
God could still prevent evil
16. The problem of religious language
Some say religious language is cognitive (communicates
knowledge, information and facts about God)
Something about God can be known
However, religious statements aren’t facts
Therefore religious language is meaningless
17. Via negative – Aquinas
Negative way
We can’t talk about God in positive terms as it’s misleading and
confusing
We must only talk of God in negative terms such as what he’s not
CRITICISM
Davies – describing something as what it’s not gives no clue to what he is
18. Verification principle – Ayer
If we verify a statement we check its truth against a body of evidence or facts
A statement which can’t be conclusively verified can’t be verified at all
It’s simply devoid of any meaning
Denys the possibility of God’s existence altogether
No way of empirically verifying his existence
Analytic propositions: statements that contain all the information within the statement that we need to verify it
Synthetic propositions: statements that can be confirmed through the use of the senses
Strong verification: an assertion only has meaning if it can be verified according to empirical information
Weak verification: for an assertion to be true one simply has to state what kind of evidence would verify its’
contents
19. Falsification principle – Flew
Any statement that can’t be falsified is empty of meaning
Religious language is meaningless
Nothing can count against religious statements
They can’t be verified or falsified because believers won’t accept ay
evidence to count against their beliefs
20. Criticism – Hare
Flew didn’t understand the nature of religious beliefs
“Bliks” = basic beliefs about the world
Basic beliefs are “bliks” as they’re neither verifiable nor falsifiable
We all have a blik
21. Aquinas
Analogy of attribution: qualities we ascribe to each other are a reflection of
the qualities of God
When we see these attributes in others we’re able to make analogies with the
attributes of God
Analogy of proportion: these properties depend on the nature of the being
that possesses them
When we use words to describe God we’re describing an infinite being
When we use words to describe each other we’re describing finite beings
Therefore the meaning of these words can’t be the same
22. Tillich
Religious language ought to be understood in a different way
Religious language is cognitive
We’re able to learn something about God from religious language,
but our words become more symbolic
Symbolic: point us towards something else
23. Criticism – Randall
Religious language is symbolic but non-cognitive
It doesn’t tell us anything about the external reality, only human
experiences
24. Bultman
A myth is the use of imagery to express the other-worldly
Myth: ancient stories unlikely to be true, but they convey the
values and beliefs of a community
It draws the readers in and requires a response
They’re not the literal truth, but a deep truth
25. Language games – Wittgenstein
Language is like playing a game with rules
There are agreed rules within the group on how words are used
Those outside of the game cannot understand the true meaning of
the words
Therefore those outside the game believe that religious language is
meaningless
Only those inside the game who understand the context of the
word can know its’ true meaning
26. Supporter – Phillips
He suggests that no one outside of the game can criticise the belief
Some problems caused by religious language exist because we take
the language literally
28. The ontological argument
A priori argument
God’s existence is different to that of humans
Humans are contingent whereas God is necessary
29. Anselm
Theistic argument
Faith seeking understanding
Response to Psalms: “the fool says to himself, ‘there is no God’”
Began with his definition of God – God is a being that which nothing greater
can be conceived
Premise 1 God is a being than which nothing
greater can be conceived
Premise 2 Something that really exists is greater
than something just in thought
Premise 3 If there’s really nothing greater than God,
then he can’t just exist in the mind
Premise 4 God exists in the mind and reality
30. Criticism – On behalf of the fool and the
perfect island – Gaunilo
Just because you can imagine a perfect thing (e.g. a lost island)
doesn’t mean it exists in reality
We know it doesn’t exist in reality, as we can only imagine it in our
mind
You would be a fool to think it did exist in reality
If Anselm’s argument can be used to prove the existence of a non-
existent island then it’s flawed
31. Anselm’s response
You can’t compare God to an island
Islands are contingent
God is necessary
Premise 1 God is a being than which nothing
greater can be conceived
Premise 2 It’s greater to be necessary than
contingent
Premise 3 If God’s only contingent then a greater
being could be imagined that doesn’t
exist
Premise 4 This being would be greater than God
Premise 5 God is necessary
32. Criticism – Kant
Rejects Anselm’s definition of God
A necessary existence is something that the non-existence of is
impossible
33. Defence – Malcolm
God can’t come into existence by cause or chance
If he doesn’t already exist then his existence would be impossible
If he does exist he can’t stop existing
God’s existence is necessary
34. Criticism – Davies
Malcolm fails to realise the word “is” can be used in different ways
E.g. The horse “is” brown
E.g. There “is” such thing as a dragon
35. Descartes
Even if a triangle had never existed, they’d still have distinct characteristics (e.g. 3 sides, 3
angles)
God exists as an idea in the mind
God is a supremely perfect being
God necessarily exists because that’s where our idea of God came from
As imperfect beings we can’t develop that idea ourselves, it was put there by God
Existence is a predicate of God
He must possess existence otherwise he wouldn’t be perfect
God must exist in reality
God without existence is like a triangle without 3 sides – it’s not possible
36. Criticism – Kant
Existence isn’t a predicate
If we say something exists we’re not giving it characteristics
Unicorn analogy – we can’t conceive an existing unicorn not
existing, so do unicorns exist?
I don’t
exist!
37. Possible worlds – Plantinga
God is a being of maximal greatness
Such a being would exist necessarily
To exist contingently means to depend on other factors
However, this would mean God isn’t maximally great
This being’s existence isn’t impossible in an infinite number of
possible worlds
Therefore, this being has to exist necessarily in all worlds