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April 02, 2003
Theodicy
Theodicy to put it simply is the problem of Evil. Most philosophical discussions with atheists center around the proof of God. An atheist does not have to prove the non-existence of God. He only has to disprove any theory for the existence of God.
Theodicy is the main argument put forward by the atheist to the believer. If God exists then how can evil in the world be explained? Evil comes in two flavors. Natural evil comprises tornadoes, earthquakes that kill "innocent" people. Moral evil encompasses despicable acts of Hitler, Idi Amin et al.
David Hume proposed the theodicy argument quite lucidly. Loosely paraphrased his claim centers around God's ominpotency. If God is omnipotent, then he can stop evil. The presence of evil implies that God is not willing to stop evil. If this is true, then God is not good. However if God is willing, but not able, then God is not omnipotent and hence can't be "God". But if God is both omnipotent and willing as theists claim then why does evil exist?
Posted at April 2, 2003 09:07 PM