The Evil in this World: The Evil Men Do

The Evil in this World: The Evil Men Do

Editor’s Note: FāVS has launched a new series on The Evil in this World. We see it every day in the murder and mayhem that trouble our lives. The world’s great religions have an explanation for this and different ways to describe the battle between good and evil. Those who do not subscribe to a religious tradition have their own perceptions of evil and good. How does your belief system describe both forces and how does it help you cope with the notion that evil exists in this world? Has your faith ever been shaken by the evil around you?

Commentary by Steven A. Smith

There is evil in this world.

I have seen it. And I have experienced it.

I was sexually abused as a child. I have never talked about this with anyone other than a therapist. I never told my dear Carla. But it is important now, as I grow older, to put into words the evil I experienced.

And perhaps it will help explain how I think of evil and how I think people who have no faith, atheists like me, cope with the evil we see and experience.

The timing is right. FāVS columnists have been writing on the topic this month. And Saturday our January Coffee Talk will deal with the subject. Details are below.

I was five years old, maybe six, when I had my encounter with evil. My family lived in one of those new post-war neighborhoods in northeast Portland. It was still rural, and our house was next to a forested area neighbor kids called “the woods.” Just beyond the little forest was an empty field. And at the end of the field was a lone house, surrounded by bushes and approached through a canopy of grape vines.

In those days kids roamed free. My friends and I would play in the woods from morning to dark. And the field was just as attractive. 

Memories are vague, of course, even as I have struggled to remember. It was an older boy in the neighborhood who first molested me and a couple of friends. I remember him. And it was that same boy who brought me to the house at the end of the field.

I cannot say what happened in that house. I put it out of my mind afterward and still cannot recover the memory.

What I do know is that I was changed by whatever occurred. I became deathly afraid of going alone into other peoples’ houses. I recall going to a friend’s birthday party just a block away. I walked alone carrying my wrapped present. But when I got to the house, I could not move, not even knock. I left the present on the porch and ran. My mother could not understand why.

I was suddenly shy, especially around strangers. And for a long time, I was a loner.

People are resilient, especially children. I buried the memories so deep they were lost for decades. But much later there were triggers, including stories of priest sexual abuse cases. I never quite understood the rage I felt when directing coverage of such cases in Spokane as editor of the Spokesman-Review.

Slowly, I have come to recall the outlines of memory, shadows, and flickers. Driving past Salem, Oregon, a few summers back, the vineyards next to the interstate brought back memories of a dark and threatening grape arbor just as if I were standing there.

I encountered evil in that little Portland neighborhood, and it changed me.

People of faith have supernatural explanations for the existence of evil, religious fairy tales of Satan or of demons or of forest sprites or other unseen forces that bend people to evil ways. Such beliefs are as old as mankind and have changed little over the vast expanse of time.

And people of faith have their own way of defending themselves, of fighting back. They rely on prayer, the strength of God. If evil is a mystery, if there is no other explanation they can accept, then it is God’s will we suffer so we can be closer to Him.

But is it God’s will that four innocent young people at the University of Idaho be butchered by a human monster? Do such acts of evil lead us closer to God? Can they be explained by ancient fairy tales? No, of course not.

As an atheist, I do not believe in a god, so do not believe evil is a function of Satan or supernatural demons, witches or dark spirits from the forest.

But there is science which does a pretty good job explaining human evil.

Police and prosecutors believe they have found the UI killer. In coming weeks, we will learn a great deal about him. But almost certainly we will learn this – if he is the killer, he is a sociopath, someone who lacks human empathy, lacks a conscience and is a narcissist. That is the usual profile. Science tells us many people have sociopathic tendencies. But only a few decide to act on them as he allegedly did. He made choices, human choices.

And that is the nut of it. Human evil is the result of human choices driven by human passions and human dysfunctions. Those who see some people as lesser humans, can do terrible things. They can commit individual crimes such as the UI slaughter. Or they can drive entire nations to war to obliterate perceived inferiors. That is what is happening in Ukraine.

Even the most devout, those who claim godliness and “deny” Satan, can perpetrate the worst evils. Remember those priests.

If we are honest about this, we must acknowledge that religious belief in Satanic possession has produced considerable evil over time. Crucifixions. Witch burnings. Exorcisms. Religious wars. Untold slaughter conducted because of the Satan fairy tale.

People make decisions for themselves. And some, for reasons generally explainable, make evil decisions.

I found my peace in therapy, reconciled the evil. Talking about such things helps. Writing this column was difficult, but necessary. And it helps.

I was the victim of one man’s evil decision. Satan had nothing to do with it.

Coffee Talk, Jan. 14, 10:30 a.m. to Noon, Spokane Public Library, 906 W. Main Ave., downtown Spokane. We will be in Event Room B on the first floor.

Our topic: There is evil in this world. We see it every day in the murder and mayhem that trouble our lives. The world’s great religions have an explanation for this and different ways to describe the battle between good and evil. Those who do not subscribe to a religious tradition have their own perceptions of evil and good. How does your belief system describe both forces and how does it help you cope with the notion that evil exists in this world? Has your faith ever been shaken by the evil around you?

If you cannot attend in person, the event will be live streamed on Facebook and on Zoom.