Supporters of IndyMedia (or uncensored media in general), please check out this petition. Annoying that people are signing it with obviously fake names – smells like an attack to me.
A friend forwarded this for commentary:
DID GOD CREATE EVIL?
At a certain college, there was a professor with a reputation for being tough on Christians.
At the first class every semester, he asked if anyone was a Christian and proceeded to degrade and mock their statement of faith.
One semester, he asked the question and a young man raised his hand when asked if anyone was a Christian. The professor asked, “Did God make everything, young man?”
“Yes he did, sir,” the young man replied.
The professor responded, “If God made everything, then God made evil, and if we can only create from within ourselves, then God is evil.”
The student didn’t have a response and the professor was happy to have once again proved the Christian faith to be a myth.
Then another man raised his hand and asked, “May I ask you something, sir?”
“Yes you may,” responded the professor.
The young man stood up and said, “Sir, is there such thing as cold?”
Of course there is, what kind of a question is that? Haven’t you ever been cold?”
The young man replied, “Actually, sir, cold does not exist. What we consider to be cold, is really only the absence of heat. Absolute zero is when there is absolutely no heat, but cold does not really exist. We have only created that term to describe how we feel when heat is not there.”
The young man continued, “Sir, is there such thing as dark?”
Once again, the professor responded “Of course there is.”
And once again, the student replied “Actually, sir, darkness does not exist. Darkness is really only the absence of light. Darkness is only a term man developed to describe what happens when there is no light present.”
Finally, the young man asked, “Sir, is there such thing as evil?”
The professor responded, “Of course. We have rapes, and murders and violence everywhere in the world, those things are evil.” The student replied, “Actually, sir, evil does not exist. Evil is simply the absence of God. Evil is a term man developed to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. It isn’t like truth, or love, which exist as virtues like heat and light. Evil is simply the state where God is not present, like cold without heat or darkness without light.”
The professor had nothing to say.
Well, this is pretty likely an urban legend or parable rather than an actual story, but that’s not overly important.
In general, it does not prove the existence of a creator or god, much less the Abrahamic god, but it does partially refute the common argument against the existence of god that goes:
If the evil in the world is intended by god he is not good. If it violates his intentions he is not almighty. God can’t be both almighty and good. There are many objections to this, but none that holds since god is ultimately responsible for the existence of evil. Besides, if only god can create he must have created evil. If somebody else (the devil) created evil, how can one know that god, and not Satan created the universe?
The problem with seeing it as a proof OF god is that god is not the opposite of evil – good is. For those who see god and good as one in the same, fine, but to try and prove one with the other is circular reasoning.
I do like the idea of evil not being something that exists in and of itself – it is simply the way we define the absense of morality/ethics/good.
That might mean that a sociopath is not evil because they have an inherent quality of evil but rather because they simply lack any concept or understanding of morality – they exist much as a 2-year old does. They have a desire and they act on it.
Of course, what is moral, what is ethical, what is good?
The religious have these defined by their religions. Others trust their “instincts” which may be inherent, defined by family, or by society. Is it absolute or relative? In most places, cold-blooded murder is seen as wrong, but what about killing for self-defense? Executing the guilty? Are those things right, wrong, or is it simply relative to society?
To take one that people have less polarized opinions on, how about theft? In some cultures, the concepts of “personal propery” were much, much looser – you didn’t own stuff, it was just what you were using at the moment. No property meant no theft, so taking something that someone else was carrying wasn’t immoral – wasn’t evil.
As another example, some religions see imbibing alcohol as a sin – evil. Others drink it as part of their sacraments – good. Some see it as more or less neutral – not “good”, but not lacking in it either.
But back to evil as the absense of good…
There is something about the concept that I think is potentially powerful. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it has something to do with why good can only exist if we try for it – not caring or not doing results in evil simply because good is not being done. Hell exists when we stop striving for heaven – not in an afterlife, but here, now, on earth, in this life.
Both light and heat require energy being put into it, similarly, so does good. If the energy stops, it grows cold, dark, and evil. Ragnarok/Gotterdammerung.
Anyway, this requires more thought. One of the things I’m not sure fits into the idea is sadism – I’m not talking about spanking, but truly finding pleasure in the suffering of others. Is that more than simply the absense of good, or is that somehow a natural primal thing? Hm. Cats…
From Yahoo!: “This is a 2003 handout photo showing the ‘Scorpion ensemble’ future battle dress for U.S. soldiers, being developed at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., which is expected to be ready for action in 2011. Today’s soldier when completely outfitted carries as much as 90 to 120 pounds, but the future combat uniform will weigh only 40 to 50 pounds and will include communications, night vision gear, body senors and the latest technology in protective armor. (AP Photo/U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center,Sarah Underhill, handout)”
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