# The Problem of The Problem of Evil

Daniel Cameron Bush

17th of April 2026

Forgive the informality of this post. The entire thing was written in my lunch-break. If you don’t like amateur, lunch-break philosophy then don’t bother reading this one.

It seems that many fervently religious people think atheism comes not necessarily from a place of ignorance but almost as a form of rebellion caused by a ‘misguided’ anger towards the divine.

If the divine really did exist, which I honestly don’t think it does, I don’t think I would blame anybody for being angry at it. Many Christians, for example, wave away the common rebuttal for God’s supposed all-loving nature – namely the problem of evil – as if it were some sort of done-to-death, tawdry cliche from wannabe Christopher Hitchens’ pseudo-intellectuals.

But why wouldn’t you be angry?

We watch the ones we love die around us, in painful and tragic circumstances. We watch criminals evade justice for heinous crimes, seemingly answering to nobody. We watch children starving and dying because of economic injustice. Our societies are fraught with sexism, racism and innumerable other injustices that divide us and cause unimaginable harm and suffering.

We are supposed to be comforted by the idea of an afterlife, that God – the cosmic accountant – will make sure everything is settled in the end. That no matter what hardship you may have to undertake in this life, you will receive your reward in heaven. It may seem like God isn’t here at times, but he sees everything, and will defend the righteous.

Well, if he is here, he’s the world’s greatest hide and seek champion. What kind of logical fallacy would lead you to believe he can quite easily watch evil unfold here on Earth and do nothing besides take note of it but then quite easily make it right in the next life? It makes no sense.

If you were a moral agent, with the ability to stop evil in its tracks – and evil is often self-evidently so and doesn’t require divine prescription – you would. I know you would.

I think the idea of an afterlife is probably one humanity’s worst ideas. To communicate ideas like these to another human being is downright evil. These ideas set us up for failure in a number of ways.

Primarily, it primes us to endure suffering and adopt a fallacy of having to first suffer in order to then enjoy life. I’m hearkening to something along the lines of a redemption complex. This kind of fallacy is dynamite for people whom suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder – as it can lead them to think they must ‘pay’ for their happiness.

It also disincentives us from doing good in this life. I know it sounds contrary to what many religious folk rabble on about, like how their faith encourages them to be better people. On paper, I can believe it but in practice I’ve noticed something to quite the contrary. Many people become instilled with a belief that they are righteous, that God must be on their side - why wouldn’t he be?

It encourages a holier-than-thou complex where someone, despite their initial intentions, can end up blinded by their own sense of piousness and alienate themselves from other people.

This may lead people to cut off other people due to their ‘unrepentant ways’ or because they aren’t as ‘enlightened’, or maybe simply because they disagree on something relatively innocuous but is incidentally of vital importance according to whichever dogma a religious person may subscribe to.

Refusing to take part in secular society, refusing to talk to certain groups of people based on dogmatic bias, refusing to speak to specific family members – all in the belief that it’s a necessary sacrifice in order for the ultimate goal of being one with God and securing your place in heaven.

This causes pain and suffering.

The reality, albeit ‘unpleasant’, is much more constructive and, dare I say, positive.

We do not know whether there is a human ‘soul’, nor do we know what happens to it at the moment of our death. Personally, I don’t think it exists. Our personalities, our faculties, our ideas, they all seem to be reliant on a functioning body but, more specifically, a functioning central nervous system. This has been scrutinised medically and measured. There is nothing to suggest there is anything external to our internal sense of self. I remember reading about how other organs may have a lesser ability to retain memories but, for the most part, it seems our sense of identity is housed in the central nervous system. Chiefly the frontal lobe of the brain.

We can see what happens when a living organism dies. The same goes for single-cell organisms, just as it does for plants and animals. After an organism ceases to function it decays, its constituent parts break down – the proteins, the lipids, the carbon that once formed a living, breathing thing – and are quietly redistributed.

The molecules that make up a human body don't disappear. They are absorbed into the soil, taken up by plants, consumed by other organisms, cycled endlessly through the biosphere. The atoms themselves are older than the Earth. They have been part of countless other things before you and will be part of countless other things after. There is no loss, just redistribution.

The universe is extraordinarily economical.

This is objective, measured reality. There is no ‘pity’, nor ‘great shame’ in this observable phenomenon. If we taught people that this is the only thing in store for us upon our death, then perhaps we would treat each other a bit more respectfully during what is the only life we know we have. It would encourage us to make things right with each other in the here and now, rather than kicking that can down the road.

I’m sick of people instilling a false sense of hope in people that they will one day see their loved ones again after they pass. The evidence points towards the fact you won’t. It’s downright awful. It’s far worse to give someone this false hope than to constructively help them through grief and eventually move on. Grief is never easy but how can we ever hope to accept death as a natural part of life, if we cling to the desire to live forever – and be reunited with our loved ones? There is a sort of beauty in the fact that everything is impermanent, fleeting and temporary. It makes our interactions with one another, our shared joyful moments and precious relationships invaluable.

It also encourages us to minimise suffering, avoid petty squabbles, fights and disagreements while we are alive. Otherwise, we will spend a lifetime regretting falling out with a person you know you will never see again.

Some defend God’s apparent inaction by reminding us that he gave us the gift of free will which supersedes all; therefore he cannot meddle in mortal matters. I don’t know about you, but if I was an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful being I don’t think I would sit still, unmoved by the likes of genocide, child abuse, human trafficking, rape and murder. If it sounds like I’m pulling on heart strings, it’s because I am. If it’s enough for me, why is it not enough for him?

If I am made in God’s image and humanity is good because he is good, then why does he make us do all the work to prevent to stop these things happening. Humanity always seems to give him credit for inspiring their good works, but it’s only ever their work that makes a tangible, measurable change in the world.

I’ve heard many people bumble their way through attempting to answer the problem of evil but I’ve never heard a good response to it. All of the answers people have given me just make God look ever more like an irresponsible, uncaring tyrant at best and an intentionally spiteful, abusive and murderous psychopath at worst.