Examination and Critique of the Logicality of the Problem of Evil

The philosophers of religion generally believe that the existence of evil in the world is the most powerful challenge to the belief in the existence of God. They distinguished between two aspects of the problem of evil: The "philosophical/defensive" aspect and the "religious/sociological-psychological" aspect. Philosophical/defensive aspects, in their turn, have been analyzed into two "logical problem" and "evidential problem". The "logical problem of evil" explains that there is a logical incompatibility between the beliefs of God-believers in the existence of God and the fact that there are evils in the world. Various ways to avoid this incompatibility have been proposed. Atheists have chosen to believe in the existence of evil and set aside belief in God as a false belief. God-believers have resorted to other ways: A group of the God-believers have tried to show that belief in the existence of God can be compatible with believing in the existence of evil. This article seeks to show that the problem of evil is not exclusively logical or even philosophical, but it is also a socio-psychological and a faith issue.