An atheological argument from evil natural laws

Quentin Smith, Yellow Springs, and Quentin Smith

International journal for philosophy of religion, vol. 29, 1991, pp. 159–174

Abstract

The law of “eat or be eaten” is probably ultimately evil and therefore God probably does not exist. If God existed, he would not have created carnivores but instead have created only 2710 vegetarian animals; instead of tigers, he would have created vegetarian tiger-counterparts. The attempts of Swinburne, Hick, Schlesinger, Reichenbach and Plantinga to defuse the problem of natural evil are considered and rejected.

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Not long ago I was sleeping in a cabin in the woods and was awoken in the middle of the night by the sounds of a struggle between two animals. Cries of terror and extreme agony rent the night, intermingled with the sounds of jaws snapping bones and flesh being torn from limbs. One animal was being savagely attacked, killed and then devoured by another. […] [I]it seems to me that the horror I experienced on that dark night in the woods was a veridical insight. What I experienced was a brief and terrifying glimpse into the ultimately evil dimension of a godless world.

atheism · favorite · meaning of life · problem of evil · suffering · theism
pp. 159