Can Atheists explain to me why there is evil and suffering in the world?

AviatorShades said:
I never understood how the existence of God would have any correlation to the existence of suffering. Why would humans make this bizarre assumption that just because he exists he's concerned with your pain?

The only consistent definition of God across different religions is omnipotence. Everything else is some quirky nuance probably unique to your local branch. IE in multiverse theory the lair containing unique universes with specified physical laws would be physically lawless and omnipotent itself therefore God/heaven. Is the multiverse concerned with your personal ailments?
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God doesn't exist.
 
Science. That's why.
 
The utter futility in this thread is amusing. It's fun to watch the unevolved struggle with their own existence. Carry on my base level friends.

Why does evil exist? lol... LOL... LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
 
Rusk said:
I ask about atheistic point of view, and atheists bring up God and religion ... i mean cant one just be atheist without God and religion? lol
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Without god and religion there wouldn't be athesim. Atheism wouldn't mean anything, it wouldn't make sense. And when we talk about evil and suffering god and religion claim to have answers to this question.
 
Is a lion evil because it terrorizes zebras all day long?
 
It seems to me that this is really a question of science and not one of faith, or lack of.

I'd like to hear an expert opinion on this but there are lots of examples of people that we would deem evil that are clinically diagnosed with mental disease. And there's lots of research that shows many of these mental illnesses have biological basis as well as being driven by experiences. Think of the person who has inherited genetics that make them susceptible to mental illness and then go through bad experiences, like abuse or living in bad conditions or a terrible neighborhood. It is a recipe for "evil" or a person doing bad things.

The OP implies that evil only exists because of God and it's the wrong question if you want to understand acts of evil or people who do acts of evil. There's a lot for us to learn in this area but again we should seek to understand the problem using science and not accept that evil is a result of a god.
 
I'm beginning to suspect that the people using "LOL" in forum posts are the same lisping pajamaboys who use it when actually talking, too.
 
Jack V Savage said:
We have a natural flaw in that we have to try to explain everything. It actually takes work to overcome that and say what FD said.

Reminds me of Bokonon in Cat's Cradle:
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Higus said:
On the flip side, believing that something has to have a complex metaphysical reason for existing could just be over-complicating a simple issue. Occam's razor.
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Falsedawn said:
I beg to differ, as Higus and Jack touched on, humans have an innate urge to understand things, and I believe we miss the forest for the trees sometimes.
......

It's only lazy if you don't consider the philosophical positions of such a stance.
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First let me just say that I'm not one of those who believe that "Satan " or other malevolent forces are behind the sinful/criminal/immoral actions perpetrated by our fellow human beings. (with all due respect to @TheComebackKid , @ripskater )

I think it's perfectly natural to seek explanations to certain abhorrent behavior, or self destructive behavior.

I would much rather examine the reasons why someone did something, rather that chalk it up to, "oh...just because."

having worked in social Service and the criminal justice system, I can say that I've seen, read, worked on cases that involved some pretty horrific shit.

Most of which I can explain away through bad parenting, crimes of passion, mental illness, greed, addiction, etc...

I think maybe there was 1 case I came across, in all my years where I truly believed the perpetrator to be "evil" in the metaphysical sense.

I'm sure there are a few psychologists here who would replace the term, "evil" with a sociopath.

sorry, rambling now...haven't had coffee yet
 
Thurisaz said:
In that case you probably create a buttload of it.
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do I? care to explain how you come to that conclusion or are you content enough to be written off as a knob?
 
There is evil and suffering because we defined evil and suffering. The rest is chemistry.
 
There's suffering in the world because that's a natural effect of a ton of things. Predators, food shortage, accidents, oppression, etc. The only way there wouldn't be suffering is if there existed an omnipotent god that could just end it.

Why there is evil? Because we call some things evil. It's not a universal term, it's just something we use to describe some things we think are horrible. What's evil to one person might not be to another, which should be clear to anyone that's ever studied a serious conflict.
 
meauneau said:
Without god and religion there wouldn't be athesim. Atheism wouldn't mean anything, it wouldn't make sense. And when we talk about evil and suffering god and religion claim to have answers to this question.
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That depends on how you view it. Everyone would be atheists if there wasn't any religion or belief in gods, as the term just means "without gods". But we of course wouldn't have invented the term since it makes no sense in that context.
 
LogicalInsanity said:
First let me just say that I'm not one of those who believe that "Satan " or other malevolent forces are behind the sinful/criminal/immoral actions perpetrated by our fellow human beings. (with all due respect to @TheComebackKid , @ripskater )

I think it's perfectly natural to seek explanations to certain abhorrent behavior, or self destructive behavior.

I would much rather examine the reasons why someone did something, rather that chalk it up to, "oh...just because."

having worked in social Service and the criminal justice system, I can say that I've seen, read, worked on cases that involved some pretty horrific shit.

Most of which I can explain away through bad parenting, crimes of passion, mental illness, greed, addiction, etc...

I think maybe there was 1 case I came across, in all my years where I truly believed the perpetrator to be "evil" in the metaphysical sense.

I'm sure there are a few psychologists here who would replace the term, "evil" with a sociopath.

sorry, rambling now...haven't had coffee yet
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Fair enough. I think that FD and Jack would agree that "things happen just because" in this case (and many others) could easily be substituted with, "things happen because of reasons that begin and end in the physical realm rather than metaphysical causes". Even your example of an "evil" person could be attributed to a combination of improbable events if someone really cared to look into it.
 
Rusk said:
I ask about atheistic point of view, and atheists bring up God and religion ... i mean cant one just be atheist without God and religion? lol
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OK then. I am an atheist who grew up in an extremely religious environment so I have seen both sides of the equation. Can you ask a more specific question than just a general topic of "evil and suffering" ?
 
no, atheists cannot explain this. other than to say what is good, and what is evil, are simply subjective categories that we place events and actions within. its a matter of perspective.

a more difficult question would be for the theists. why would a god punish his own creations for acting out the things that he gave them the capacity and desire to do?
 
Rusk said:
I am curious about atheistic perspective on this issue.

I am sure it will make a lot of sense. :)
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First off, evil is a subjective term and a concept created by humans. When an animal kills another, most people don't think of it as "evil", but when a human kills a human they do. In reality it is the same thing.

Using a traditional definition of evil, there are lots of reasons but the main two are that humans have evolved to do what is best for themselves so that they have the best chance of reproducing and continuing their genetic line, even at the expense of others. Second is that there aren't enough resources around to adequately provide for everyone.

There is a limited amount of stuff out there and human nature is to get as much of it for yourself and your family as possible, even if that means causing others to suffer.
 
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