The Problem of Evil, Logic, and Freedom

How does your religion and/or how do you personally address the problem of evil?

The logical problem of evil was first expounded up by Epicurus about 300 years before Jesus is supposed to have lived. The problem was related in this way by David Hume as “Epicurus’ old riddle”:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?

The last few hundred years have seen philosophers, theologians, and laypeople struggling to find an answer to this riddle, and it is central to many discussions of faith. Such an answer is often referred to as a theodicy and commonly attempts to formulate a proof of God’s supposedly intrinsic omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence in light of the reality that evil exists. Understanding and talking about these explanations and justifications for faith are incredibly important because they shape how we perceive the world around us and our place and purpose in it.

As with most philosophical problems, the problem of evil has generated many possible answers, and each answer tells us something about the people who hold to it. It seems to me that the most common answers (among laypeople–there are more complex answers among some intellectuals, but they amount to pretty much the same thing) to the problem have to do with the idea of God as a master planner of everything that happens in the universe or with the concept of human free will. However, both of these fail to adequately address the problem of evil in a logically consistent manner, and in any theodicy there is always the presupposition that a god of some kind exists.

Watched: Fall Season Premieres

The Bad:

• Glee- This show has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. While there have been a couple of great scenes in the first couple seasons of it, I know that the largest part of Glee‘s appeal is that it’s a show about good-looking kids singing popular songs. Indeed, the times I’ve enjoyed Glee the most have been when they mostly abandoned plot and storyline in favor of more performances. It looks like season 3 is, at least to begin with, a bit more plot-driven than seasons 1 and 2, however. The bad news is that the plot is terrible. Also, the first episode of the season had Sue Sylvester going off on a racist rant in addition to a whole bunch of “jokes” about Asperger’s. Needless to say, I wasn’t amused. The episode was seriously so bad that I am considering just not watching any more.

Death is Really, Really Scary

What are your views on the afterlife? Especially, what happens to people who don’t agree that your religion is the correct one?

Anyone who has read my other posts in this series should know by now that I find a lot about religion, and especially about Christianity, to be entirely despicable. Christian doctrines relating to Hell and Salvation are among those that I find particularly toxic, and believers in such various doctrines range from entirely and purposefully hateful (e.g. Westboro Baptist Church) to blissfully (for them) unaware of whatever harm they cause (e.g. the vast majority of moderate-to-liberal Christians in the US).

"Still Life with a Skull" by Philippe de Champaigne. In this 17th century painting the flower, skull, and hourglass stand for Life, Death, and Time.

Here’s the thing: Death is really, really scary. It’s easy enough to explain what happens to our bodies and our stuff when we die. We decompose, and our things end up in landfills, thrift stores, or the dusty corners of our descendants’ attics and crawlspaces. The question that has preoccupied people for, in all likelihood, millions of years isn’t answered by that explanation, however. What we all want to know is where do we go? What happens to whatever it is that makes us, well, us?

In Which There is Absolutely Nothing Good About The Help

Her family hired me as a maid for 12 years, but then she stole my life and made it a Disney movie | Mail Online

So, apparently, Kathryn Stockett is an even worse person than I would have expected of someone responsible for the racist shitpile that was The Help.

The character Skeeter’s exploitation of the black maids in the book/movie is topped by Ms. Stockett’s own exploitative actions.

Watched: The Help (2011)

The Help (2011)

As soon as I saw the first trailer for The Help, I knew it was going to be another white savior movie. At the same time, I was a tiny bit excited at the appearance of another woman-centered movie on the horizon, and I hoped that it would belie my rather low expectations. There are so few movies about women’s lives and stories, and even fewer that manage to be made and distributed nationally. Fewer still are movies about women that aren’t centered on our supposedly eternal and imperative search for a man to put babies in our bellies. So. You know. I was excited, though pessimistically so, when I saw the early previews of this film.

There are few times when I hate to be right, but I definitely was about this movie, and I definitely hated to be. The Help isn’t just a white savior movie—there’s also an insidious thread of misogyny throughout it. It’s not surprising. I expected it, mostly, but it never ceases to be disappointing.