The Argument from Evil (in a nutshell)

Here’s a good and quick way argue the problem of evil against theism (i.e. the argument from evil).

The argument from moral evil

1. If God exists, then certain moral evils like torture, genocide, rape would not exist.
2. Evils like torture, genocide, and rape exist.
3. Therefore, God does not exist

This is a deductively valid argument. A deductive argument being valid means that the conclusion logically and necessarily follows from the premises; it is logically impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false. Thus the only question remains then whether the premises are more plausible than their denials, and it seems they are.

Any rational, moral person would have stopped Hitler if she could because it is the moral thing to do. It seems extremely plausible then that if God were perfectly moral and had the power to stop Hitler, he would have. The truth of the above premises is thus far more plausible than their denials.

The argument from natural evil

4. If God exists, then natural evils like babies dying of cancer and injuries of excruciating pain upon undeserving victims would not exist.
5. Evils like babies dying of cancer and injuries of excruciating pain upon undeserving victims would not exist.
6. Therefore, God does not exist.

Again, the argument is deductively valid, and again the premises are more plausible than their denials. Doctors battle humanity’s pain and disease through anesthesia, vaccinations, and so forth. We human beings fight against these things because any moral being would. It would be highly unethical, for instance, to withhold a cure for cancer from cancer victims. Theists would eliminate at least the worst of these natural evils if they could precisely because it would be the right thing to do. Thus it is very probable that an omniscient, sufficiently powerful and perfectly good Being would, if he existed, eliminate these natural evils from the world—just as we imperfectly moral humans would if we possessed the power to do so.

Conclusion

The problem of evil (moral and natural) can be formed in deductively valid arguments, with premises that are far more plausible than their denials. If we imperfect moral beings would eliminate the terrible evils I listed because it would be the right thing to do (e.g. to stop Hitler), how much more would a sufficiently powerful and perfectly good Being do so once this Being was aware of such evils? All things considered then, it is highly unlikely that God exists.