A Rebuttal of Theologian Brian Huffling

BY GARY WHITTENBERGER

Illustration by Anna Maltese

IN A RECENT ISSUE OF SKEPTIC magazine (Vol. 24, No. 2), theologian Brian Huffling presented his answer to the question “Is the Reality of Evil Good Evidence Against the Christian God? A Response to Michael Shermer’s Affirmative Answer.” 1 Although Huffling does yeoman’s work in his attempt to justify the negative answer, in the end his defense fails. The evidence cited by Shermer is not only good, it is decisive. It shows that God does not exist!

What is evil anyway? Shermer defined it as “intentional harm against sentient beings.” I think this is a pretty good modern definition, but Huffling doesn’t buy it. He wants to hang on to an older concept that asserts that even natural disasters, like destructive hurricanes, are evil. Of course, if a god were to cause destructive hurricanes, then they would be evil by Shermer’s definition, since the god would have intended these harms. “Evil” is primarily a religious concept and has different meanings even among theists. Huffling himself equivocates on the term in his own essay.

I think it is time to discard the idea of evil in discussions of the existence of God. Let’s simplify and ask: “Does the fact that humans are significantly harmed in many specific ways count as evidence against God?” Or, to put it more bluntly, “Do significant specific harms to humans prove that God does not exist?” Furthermore, let’s forthrightly rename the associated argument to “The Argument from Harm Against the Existence of God.”

We must begin with a definition of “God.” Here I am going to use one derived from holy books, from writings of philosophers, theologians, and religious leaders over the centuries, and from modern surveys of lay persons. “God” is the hypothetical eternal, all knowing, all powerful, perfectly moral being or agent who created our universe and sometimes intervenes in it. This is the god believed in by most Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Although this definition will not satisfy all, I believe it will satisfy most theists, atheists, and agnostics. Starting with this standard definition I believe I can demonstrate that God does not exist.