Tag: the evil in this world series

In his book “Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes,” process theologian Charles Hartshorne argues that the doctrine that God causes all things and events is a projection of the worship of all-powerful rulers. Alfred North Whitehead, the other great process philosopher agrees: “The deeper idolatry, of fashioning God in the image of the Egyptian, Persian, and Roman imperial rulers, was retained. The Church gave unto God the attributes which belonged exclusively to Caesar.”

The fact that God is the God of Love doesn’t mean He’s not also the God of Hate. The opposite of love isn’t hate but indifference. Your Bible doesn’t teach a Zoroastrian-style dualism. Satan is a fallen angel, and we don’t need to make him a god. Don’t you see? None of us understands how to love properly, and we always hate far worse.

I believe I’m seeing far more evil in the world than ever before in my lifetime. There’s a constant barrage of antisemitism, gun violence, racism and homophobia. And not only is there a lack of empathy, but there’s a gleeful viciousness about it from perpetrators. However, for this piece, I’m going to focus specifically on the evil I’m seeing in response to COVID.

Most Native Americans will say both good and evil exist, but Indigenous concepts differ from Eurocentric ideas when it comes to evil. As I have said before, there are hundreds of Indigenous tribes, and each has their own cultures and religions. As a rule, however, most seem to believe in evil – not as a concept or an entity separate from humans, but as an action made by humans.

Evil is an ineradicable part of the human condition. It is part of who we are. It is one of the inevitable consequences of human freewill. Evil is here to stay.