Atheism Makes Evil Worse:
Sadly, Quentin Smith concludes this section of the statements we have been considering by delving into juvenile mockery:
“Now the theist might respond that there may be some greater good we don’t know about. But notice the theist says, ‘here may be some greater good we don’t know about.’ ell sure there may be some greater good we don’t know about.Anything is possible.It is possible there is an elephant stomping through my house.It is possible that Elvis Presley is alive and is doing the twist on the dark side of the moon.But the fact that something is possible does not show it is the least bit probable. So the fact that it is possible that God exists does not show it is the least bit probable that there is a God who created these unknown greater goods.
So if someone asks me to accept on faith that there is all these greater goods which explains all evil in the world and therefore that God exists, I respond that I’ll accept that on faith if you accept on faith that Elvis Presley is now swiveling his hips on the moon.”
This is not only mockery but logically fallacious. As in my three anecdotes above, it is self-evident to us all, or obvious to us all, or as David Hume would say “uniform experience,” that quite often apparently gratuitous evil has some purpose that we were unaware of at the time of the evil occurrence. However, there is no self-evidence-obvious-uniform-experience of Elvis Presley swiveling his hips on the moon-in fact, Quentin Smith could fund a moon landing to ascertain precisely if Elvis is moon-swiveling.
Thus, we have seen that Quentin Smith overstates his case and that all and any of us can attest to the fact that evil can have meaning/purpose even if we do not know what it is, even if we have to wait for years in order to find out what the purpose was.
Yet, I would very much like to grant Quentin Smith’s argument as an intellectual exercise. Let us grant that we have become convinced by Quentin Smith’s argument and come to accept the fact that God does not exist (his apparent definition of “atheism”). Now what?
I immediately realize that evil still occurs.
I also realize that atheism guarantees that there is no possible greater purpose. Except, perhaps, as a very good thing for evolution. For example, Sam Harris argues that rape played a beneficial evolutionary function-see Sam Harris: The Rape Comments.
In the case of evil perpetrated by human beings, I realize that it is not quite accurate to state that atheism guarantees that there is no possible greater purpose. This is; because atheism guarantees that the evildoer enjoyed their evildoing and if they did not get caught then they simply got away with it.
Therefore, I realize that atheism not only does not do anything about evil but actually makes evil worse.
Thus, the fact of evil in the world is one of the very best reasons for rejecting atheism.
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