The document discusses the problem of evil and suffering from a religious perspective. It defines moral and natural evil, provides examples of each, and presents a diagram showing how the existence of evil and suffering poses a problem for the existence of an omnibenevolent, omnipotent and omniscient God.

1. WHAT IS THE
PROBLEM OF EVIL?
Aims:
• Describe what the problem of evil and suffering
• Explain why there is evil and suffering is a problem
for religious believers

2. HOW IS EVIL UNDERSTOOD?
• Wickedness! The worst kind of badness or
nastiness which causes people to suffer pain
and sorrow both physical and non-physical.

3. WHAT TYPES OF SUFFERING ARE THERE?
war terrorism poverty crime
sickness bereavement Illness rejection
depression Holocaust Twin Towers Tsunami

4. TWO TYPES OF EVIL
• Moral evil – evil actions deliberately carried out by
people that brings suffering to others e.g.
murder, rape, war, theft
• Natural evil – suffering beyond people’s
control, caused by nature, e.g. famine, disease, natural
disasters
• Sometimes these overlap, or they do not fit into these
categories

5. SOME EXAMPLES:
• War (a moral evil) may lead to famine because the
agricultural system breaks down (a natural evil)
• Cancer (a natural evil) can be caused by smoking or poor
diet, which is an individual choice, so is it actually a moral
evil?
• Is death an evil? If people never died would that be worse
than death?
• If animals are abused by people, that must be a moral
evil, but what about the suffering of an animal killed by a
lion?

6. LOOKING AT TODAYS PAPERS
1. Have a look at one of today's papers and list all of the
news stories that involve suffering
2. Identify whether that are examples of moral or natural
evil
3. What caused each event and how it might have been
prevented

7. DIAGRAM OF THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
God is thought to be omni-benevolent, omnipotent and omniscient
If God is omni- If God is omniscient he If God is omnipotent he
benevolent he would would know how to would be able to
want to remove evil remove evil and remove evil and
and suffering suffering suffering
Therefore, both God
and evil cannot exist
Evil and suffering do
exist
Therefore, God
cannot exist

8. QUESTIONS
1. Does evil always lead to suffering?
2. Is suffering always wrong?
3. Imagine that you were having a conversation with God
a) What questions would you like to ask God about the
problem of evil?
b) What answers do you think that God would give?

9. SUMMARY
• Evil and suffering occur in many forms and
can cause serious problems for those who
believe in an all-loving, all-powerful and all-
knowing God