Problem of Evil



Speaking of Faith did a program on the problem of evil on February 15, 2002. Krista Tibbet narrated the program and had on numerous guests. Here are some summaries of their thoughts on the problem of evil.

M. Scott Peck:
Peck is a psychiatrist that has written a book People of the Lie. To start off, Peck says that "evil defies definition because it is one of the basic mysteries of life." He says that "evil is in opposition to life. It has to do with murder, killing that is not required for biological survival. It is that force residing either inside or outside of human beings that seeks to kill life or liveliness."

Rami Nashashibi:
He is a Muslim social activist and founder of the Inner City Muslim Action Network. Nashashibi thinks that there has to be accountability for the evil in this world. "We have to be very principled and sincere about accountability in all its forms. We need to begin to expand our definition of accountability." He also thinks that systemic evil (racism, poverty) needs to be dealt with. Nashashibi cannot help but feel that we cannot look at those things such as racism and poverty in a vacuum, that won't get to the bottom of why there is evil in this world. He thinks that the evil around us are "consequences of human actions, human systems that may be imperfect as we are imperfect." But becasue there is evil doesn't mean there is no god. Nashashibi says "the merciful god is still here. It allows us to get up in the morning, it allows us to think, it allows us to breathe, it allows untold acts of kindness throughout the world to occur.

Lisa Lampman:
"Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay', says the Lord. Know, if your enemies are hungry feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. For by doing this, you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." -Book of Romans, 12th Chapter.

This is critical for Lisa Lampman as she works with victims of violent crime. In situations of unspeakable despair, she has discovered that evoking the word "evil" has practical power. She worked on the Reagan Bush Campaign of 1984. In 1992 she became president of a new initiative of prison fellowship, Neighbors who Care, a national organization to equip churches to meet the needs of the victims of crime. Here is one of the settings in which she did crisis counceling: a 1998 shooting at a middle school in Arkansas. Five were killed and ten injured by two boys (ages 11 and 13). They set up a place on a hill outside the school and rang the school bell to identify an emergency. All the kids came out into the school yard and the two boys started firing. It destroyed families and a sense of safety in the community. It is important to note that the acts were evil but it is not as easy to label the two boys evil. To name something evil, she says, is comforting for the victims. Our hope is that good overcomes that evil by evoking those words. But why are we so fascinated with evil, such as in books, or horror movies, or video games? Lampman says that "we are all attracted to certain things associated with evil becasue we're trying to figure it out. It's not unhealthy. We're just trying to figure it out."

Leon Weinstein and his daughter Natalie Gold:
Both are Holocaust survivors. They lost eighty family members including Natalie's mother. Leon fought the Nazis in the Warsaw ghetto and out of thousands he was one of only seven people to survive. Leon found her on his doorstep when she was 18 months old. She was presumably left there by her parents who hoped that she would survive this horrible mess. Leon says his tremendous faith in God is what kept him alive. He wasn't keeping his faith so that he might live, but that the Jewish people might live. Storytelling is what he wanted to survive. Natalie believes that "evil has to be exposed for the fact that it brings nothing in the world. It brings no joy, no future. It brings no renewal. Only good begets good." The choice of good and evil comes up everyday and that's the human challenge to realize she says. "The road out of Egypt is never over. The road out of Egypt and the road to becoming slaves to our own less than good nature is a daily task." In order to understand evil, we have to understand human nature. Some people think that if we could just find Bin Laden it would just be all over. "Not so, not so" she says. The real challenge is to realize that "3/4 of children in this world still go to bed hungry. The challenge is that there are millions and millions of people dying from diseases because they don't have the vaccines." We also commit evil in turning away. We are all partners of the evil in this world when we look the other way. "The only thing we can do is be conscious of evil and try to repair the world," Natalie says.

Robert Pollack:
Pollack is a biologist and the director of Columbia University's Center for the Study of Science and Religion. Author of Signs of Life: The Language and Meaning of DNA. He answers the problem of evil with free will. "Absent free will, we are not angels but we are beasts. It is only the free will choice to not be a beast that allows the possibility of civilization in any sense." Free will is our way to becoming human.

To end, another exerpt from M. Scott Peck's Book:
"It is a strange thing. Dozens of times I have been asked by patients or acquaintances, 'Dr. Peck, why is there evil in the world?' Yet no one has ever asked me, 'Why is there good in the world?' If we seriously think about it, it probably makes more sense to assume this is a naturally evil world that has somehow been mysteriously contaminated by goodness rather than the other way around. The mystery of goodness is even greater than the mystery of evil. In the face of such holy mystery, it is best we remember to walk with a kind of care that is born both of fear and love."





Here is a direct link to the program: Problem of Evil

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