Atheism, Gnosticism & the Problem of Evil

[Mister Agenda]

Regarding the problem of evil, it strikes me that the pantheistic viewpoint is particularly cowardly. By denying both moral and natural evil, they achieve the equivalent of, 'Not my problem, brah.'

Boru

I don't deny human evil, I deny that evil exists in nature.

It only exists in nature if it is the will of an omnipotent moral agent.

A moment to address your biases:

https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewco...ext=psyfac

https://www.sciencealert.com/atheists-ar...g-to-prove

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Many of the atheists in the thread seemed to think that God owed them something, or that the world should be without struggle, or that man should get to decide what God ought to do and not the other way around.

God only owes us something if we are God's creation and God loves us. It's reasonable to expect an omnipotent being who loves us to be able to show it by protecting us from needless suffering. The problem of evil isn't an argument against a creator God, just against a benign one.

Many people seemed to have a problem with authority in general, or to be narcissists. I think some atheists are angry at nature, and hate the world. They don't want there to be a God, because they want it to be true that, to quote Protagoras, 'Man is the measure of all things.' The idea of something higher than man, greater than man, offends their narcissism. For this fraction of atheists, atheism seems to be more a normative position than a descriptive one.

I don't think you're qualified to make that diagnosis over the internet. I also think you're a jerk. Thank you for disabusing me of the notion that pantheists might be counted on to speak more politely towards atheists than Abrahamists. It's clear from your words that our mere existence offends you.

I'm at peace with nature and I love the world. I would be happy for there to be a God if it was benign and competent but its power was limited such that it's doing the best that it can under the circumstances. I wouldn't want a God that was hostile to us or incompetent. Would you? I don't care if there's an indifferent God and if there was, it wouldn't care if I care.

I would be surprised if there isn't anyone superior to humans in the entire universe, I just don't think that would make them gods.

Atheism is not believing any deities are actually real, full stop. Theism is believing at least one deity is really real, full stop. Any other qualities an atheist or theist may have are in addition to their atheism or theism, not a part of their atheism or theism. Both are merely opinions on the topic of whether or not at least one god or God is actually real. Neither can be normative, they are merely descriptions of either the state of mind of not holding a belief in the existence of a deity or holding such a belief. If all you know about someone is whether they're an atheist or theist; you know very little about them.