World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 399

to be victorious over evil. Be that as it may, the atheist finds the very concept of a theistic God suspect. His argument is simple: the theists believe in an alljust (moral governor), all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient) and ever-present (eternal/omnipresent) God who is also the architect (designer), creator (builder/maker) and sustainer (maintainer) of this universe and all living and non-living things. How can such a God create a world in which suffering is a reality? How can a 'good' God produce a 'bad' world? Why is it that some people suffer more than others, and some people are always suffering ('born to suffer')? Why did God (the eternal father) differentiate among His children when it comes to happiness and suffering? Do we not see some potentially and truly bad people enjoying life fully and truly good people suffering? Why this dichotomy, favouritism? Why should innocent children suffer, when they have not had even the breathing time to know the world around them? Why should old people suffer when they are physically and mentally unable to take anything more? Why should anyone be born with defects? The atheist will argue that all these show that either there is no God at all or that our conception of God is misplaced and hence to be rejected.
"If the universe or the world is created by God as per His will, why did He not create it without any evil in it?" is the question of the disbelieving atheist that the theist has to answer. That is to say, the theist has to reconcile two viewpoints: The presence of evil means there is no God; and if God is and He is good, then what He wills to create must be equally good. A 'good God' and 'an evil world' cannot co-exist.
From a philosophical and ethical point of view, it can be said that there is nothing evil about creation; for, the very design of the universe shows such a high degree of order, regularity, uniformity and consistency that it could not just happen (as the evolutionists posit). There has to be a highly intelligent designer who made it possible. That designer we refer to as God. And if it is not the personalized God of religion, it at least is a highly intelligent principle (Cosmic law or rta in vedic thought) that governs the universe. Man only needs to use his reason to discover and understand this principle.
All the religions have specific answers to the atheist's questions. 'Right' and 'wrong' are relative and present in every form since creation. 'Right' is freedom from suffering and 'wrong' is suffering as a consequence of one's immorality or going against the divine or natural laws. That means, God created a good world, and He also gave man the freedom of choice. This freedom is a tool, along with his physical capacities, for man's progress from being a mere organism to realizing himself as a complete person. The world outside provides the conditions under which man's inner being develops. The material existence (body) and the inner existence (self) have to work in harmony for the good of both. In our school-days we were taught how prakriti,
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