The suffering of the innocent contradicts God's goodness
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This argument is used in the debate Does God exist?.
This argument is a justification of There is too much suffering and injustice for there to be a god.
This argument is used in the debate Does God exist?.This argument is a justification of There is too much suffering and injustice for there to be a god.
Summary
Everywhere we look, innocent people are struck by misfortune: newborn babies disabled, children murdered, women raped, and so on. If God were good, could He allow these acts? A father who sees his child being bullied in the playground, then another child taking a stick to hit him, will react. God, who is supposed to be infinitely better than any father, allows far worse things to happen to his children or his creatures. Even if He exists, He's not "good".
Quotes
“Why did God create us so weak, so cowardly, so violent, so greedy, so pretentious, so heavy? Why are there so many bastards and mediocrities, so few heroes and saints? Why so much selfishness, envy and hatred, so little generosity and love? Evil so common, good so rare! It seems to me that a God could have obtained, even by leaving us free and imperfect, a more favorable proportion.”
André Comte-Sponville, The spirit of atheism, Albin Michel, 2006.
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