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Vittu Perkele's avatar

I still find myself not being convinced by the idea that the evils of the world are a tragic but necessary consequence of the world being structured to bring about some soul-building goods. The suffering that occurs in nature is so extreme, all-pervasive, and overwhelming that it seems to outweigh any soul-building benefit that its existence might be a consequence of. It just seems like no good can be good enough to justify that much evil, even if the evil is a necessary side effect of bringing about the good. In that case it seems like we can confidently say that it's not worth it and that the world as currently constituted would be better not to exist, and sans converting the universe into hedonium to outweigh the natural suffering of the world, that conscious existence is a net negative. If we can say that the current world would be better for its inhabitants not to be, I think we can confidently refuse theism on the grounds that even for some soul-building good, a good God simply would not create such a world.

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Alex C.'s avatar

To my mind, a lot of puzzling aspects of theism go away if you assume atheism is true. As Richard Dawkins put it in his book, "River Out of Eden":

“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

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