Michael Shermer on The problem of evil
Shermer frames the problem of evil as the strongest argument against theism, pointing to the sheer quantity and randomness of suffering.
Michael Shermer regards the problem of evil as the most powerful argument against the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent God. His treatment emphasises not the logical problem — whether God and evil can coexist in principle — but the evidential problem: given the staggering quantity and apparent randomness of suffering in the world, is it reasonable to believe that a loving God is in charge?
Shermer draws on his broad knowledge of history and science to catalogue the evidence. Natural disasters kill hundreds of thousands of people without regard to their moral character. Genetic diseases cause unimaginable suffering in children who have done nothing to deserve it. Parasites, predation, and disease are woven into the fabric of biological life. The universe, Shermer argues, looks exactly the way it would look if it were governed by impersonal natural laws rather than by a caring intelligence.
He is particularly critical of theodicies — the attempts by theologians to explain why God permits evil. The free will defence does not account for natural evil. The soul-making theodicy implies that God deliberately inflicts suffering as a character-building exercise, which Shermer regards as morally grotesque. And the 'mystery' response — that God's ways are beyond our understanding — is, in Shermer's view, an admission that the problem is unanswerable, not a solution to it.
“If God is omniscient, he knows about the suffering. If he's omnipotent, he can stop it. If he's omnibenevolent, he would want to stop it. The suffering continues. Something in that equation doesn't add up.”