Evil: It's a Problem (Update)

Update: After the talk Durston offered me to contact him to start off a dialogue on the problem of evil. I must say that even though I strongly disagree with some of the positions he holds that he is a friendly man. This type of dialogue should be encouraged more often.

A few weeks back Kirk Durston gave a talk on the problem of evil at the University of Waterloo. I'll start by giving a point summary of the arguments that I stood out as being noteworthy. This will be followed by my thoughts on the arguments

Durston's position can be summarized as followed:
-God defined as perfectly good, all knowing
-Brings up the sceptical theism argument
-Takes a Dawkins quote to argue that there is no biological explanation for our morality (i.e. innate morality)
-Argues that moral law originates from a mind that transcends time-must be perfectly good
-Argues existence of evil entails existence of moral law, therefore God
-Gives an example of the birth of Churchill, low odds of that event, Churchill's decision saved millions in WWII
-Says that the rape and murder of a five-year old girl could be justified based on the idea of final judgement for the criminal

My thoughts to the arguments:

Sceptical theism can be summarized as " probability of a perfect God’s existence isn’t at all reduced by our failure to see how such a God could allow the horrific suffering that occurs in our world. Given our finite grasp of the realm of value, skeptical theists argue, it shouldn’t surprise us that we fail to see the reasons that justify God in allowing such suffering, and thus our failure to see those reasons is no evidence against God’s existence or perfection." (http://www.springerlink.com/content/u5781uq2439m8214/) In other words, God works in mysterious ways and we can't fully understand his intentions. We'll see how holding this position poses a problem for one of the arguments Durston makes later on.

The Dawkins quote I referred to, I can't recall the exact words, is from the 1970s. Anyone with a basic understand of science should have an alarm bell going off right about now. Science is changing and you can't use a scientific position from 40 years ago to prove a point, especially when that point is wrong. Aside: I can't help but laugh at what Dawkins would think of a theist using a quote of his to back up a theist argument. Advances in our understanding of human evolution have come up with explanations for innate morality. Consider that sociopaths have clear differences in their brain patterns. Here it must be assume that either Durston simply has not kept up on the scientific news or his being willfully deceitful to back up his view.

The Churchill example seems to miss the point that this argument can also be applied to Hitler. Surely his odds of being born were just as low as Churchill's. Hitler went on to lead a genocide and start a devastating war. So shouldn't we say that God had his hand in this terrible atrocity. Who's side is God on? I'm sure Durston would say that, God works in mysterious ways, though not in those words.

Finally, we get to the point that had me smacking my notebook into my face. Durston gives the scenario of the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl. Essentially, he says that because of the final judgement the criminal will get what he deserves. I can't recall if he mentioned this but I'm assuming the little girl goes to heaven. Given Durston's sceptical theism, we can't fully understand God, position I have a hard time understanding how he could justify certainty in the idea of final judgement. Whereas we can debate the origins of morality through studies based on actual evidence, the idea of final judgement is one based purely on faith.

The danger of sceptical theism is that it leads to moral nihilism. We can't really know God's intent so how are we to know that the evils of the world are really evil? Most of us would recoil and horror at the rape and murder of anyone of any age. Sceptical theists would say, well in the end it won't be bad but, let's not do anything to prevent it now because for all we know it's all part of the intent of a perfectly good being.

It is my hope that most people have a clear idea of that is good and evil. There are clear ideas of things you should not do and should prevent others from doing them as well. If you see evil don't stand around thinking, "we'll maybe there is some purpose to this evil". Stop it.