Evil. Its existence has been a thorn in the side of theology and philosophy for thousands of years. The reality of a world beset by evil has provided atheism with its most influential and compelling arguments against theism.
What if, however, evil could actually be evidence for the existence of the God of the Bible?
A (Brief) Exploration Of Evil
We live in a world afflicted by earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, and hurricanes. This is to say nothing of the effects of devastating illnesses and human sin. For many, the presence of these evils is sufficient proof that there is no God or, at the very least, God is not the all-good, all-loving being that Christianity purports Him to be.
For its part, Catholicism identifies two types of evil: moral and natural evil. A third type, metaphysical evil, is occasionally included (see the Catholic Encyclopedia).
Moral evil is an action or non-action on the part of a creature that is contrary to the will of God. A necessary component of a moral action is free will. For something to be considered morally evil, the agent must willingly act in a manner he knows is wrong.
However, it is also possible to speak of a moral wrong that is not necessarily evil in itself. An example would be an individual who acted negligently and caused harm to another person as a result.
Natural evil can be any harmful event caused by one’s environment, independent of human actions. Here, we can speak of earthquakes, storms, and even disease.
Theodicy: The Problem Of Evil
It requires very little imagination to see why critics of faith use the presence of evil as evidence against the existence of God. Of course, theodicy— the problem of evil —has not gone unnoticed by Catholic theology and philosophy.
Thomas Aquinas framed it this way. “If one of two contraries be infinite, the other would be altogether destroyed. However, the word “God” means that He is infinite goodness. If, therefore, God existed, there would be no evil discoverable; but there is evil in the world. Therefore God does not exist.” (Aquinas, Saint Thomas. The “Summa Theologica” of St. Thomas Aquinas. 1917).
Given the evil in the world, it seems that atheists are correct to say that there is no God. Alternatively, perhaps there is a God, but He is not as good as we have been led to believe.
An Evil God?
Perhaps atheism’s response to the presence of evil is too extreme. Rather than no God, evil only proves that God is not all-good.
Examples of what is called dystheism (“bad god) and misotheism in ancient Greek and Norse mythology claim that God can be “evil” or at least cause evil to occur. (See Schweizer, Bernard. Hating God. (Oxford University Press, 2010).
Gnosticism holds that while God is the author of good, a lesser god is responsible for evil.
Frequently, dystheism and misotheism are couched in dualistic cosmology. One sees this in the Gnostic belief that the material world is evil, while only the spiritual world is considered good. Some atheists, such as Christopher Hitchens, apply dualism to the concept of freedom. The argument being that the existence of God infringes on human freedom.
Must we then conclude that the fact that we live in a world plagued by moral and natural evil is evidence that God does not exist? Perhaps it is not God that does not exist, but evil.
Evil As A Nonentity
Beginning with Saint Augustine, who drew on the Platonic tradition, Catholic theology addressed the problem of evil by viewing it as a privation of the good, which is God. Evil is understood not as a subsistent being but as a lack of what ought to be. (See Augustine, Saint. City of God. Penguin UK, 2003).
Thomas Aquinas employed blindness as a metaphor to develop this concept of evil. The eye is good when it operates as it should. It is “evil” when it does not, for blindness is the lack or privation of sight.
Following this line of reasoning, the ultimate evil is non-existence. It follows, therefore, that the ultimate good must be existence itself. This ultimate good is what Catholicism refers to as God. For this reason, Thomas Aquinas refers to God as “ipsum esse subsistens,” or being itself that exists. In other words, God is not one being among many but the source of existence itself.
Significantly, if God is existence itself, there is nothing lacking in His being. As such, God cannot be the source of evil, since evil is a lack. If we accept the argument that evil is a lack of what ought to be, then we have created the foundation for showing that evil is evidence for the existence of God.
Bad Things Mean A Good God
What if the existence of evil, instead of militating against the existence of God, actually provides evidence for His existence?
The argument is predicated on the simple premise that evil can only be understood in relation to what is good. Put into syllogistic form, the argument would look like this: If God did not exist, there would be no good in the world, but there is good in the world. Therefore, God exists. Moreover, it is only possible to identify something as evil by contrasting it with the good.
To argue in this way, it is necessary to make some admissions and presuppositions. First, on some level, it is a non-sequitur to conclude that God does or does not exist based on the presence of good or evil. While the presence of good and evil may be evidence pointing to a particular conclusion, it is insufficient in itself to conclude that God does or does not exist. For this reason, such arguments for the existence of God are inductive, not deductive.
Second, it is necessary to presuppose the existence of an objective moral standard. Otherwise, any moral claims are little more than opinions. Nevertheless, the existence of an objective moral standard requires the existence of God as the bearer of that standard.
Accepting the above caveats, the privation of good in the world (what we call evil) necessitates the existence of goodness itself, which we call God.
Conclusion
Evil in the world has been and will continue to be fodder for those seeking to discredit the belief in God. Still, the fact that we can make objective moral claims about evil can only occur because of the existence of that which is goodness itself. Darkness has no meaning if there is no light.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In