The theodicy question continues to raise its pointy head, this time in a showdown between Jerry Coyne and Francis Collins, lately installed as head of NIH.
Think about that. What Collins is implying is that the Holocaust was necessary so that Nazis could use their free will. Can there be anything more monstrous than this — or any explanation more ludicrous?
With the possible exception of the claim that Genesis is literally true, I can think of no one topic that marks a man as intellectually unserious as concern with theodicy — the problem of evil.
The ‘problem’ lies in the unsustainable assumptions that set-up the problem.
- God is all-knowing, and …
- God is all-powerful, and …
- God loves us, SO …
- Why is there suffering in the world?
Puhleeze. The problem lies in its assumptions, not any of which stand up to inspection. The problem arises from nonsensical premises.
Monotheism arose as a political solution useful for uniting the disparate tribes that coalesced to create the Jews. Satan was an invention to solve the theodicy problem. But in time folk realized it solved nothing; if God created Satan, then Our Heavenly Father Who Loves Us remains after all the author of suffering.
What to do? Write thick learned books belaboring the nonsense, and get tenure.
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