Many atheists are genuinely troubled by the problem of evil.

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Evil confronts us not in abstract only but through bitter personal experience. It meets us in the cancer ward, the nursing home and the crematorium. It assaults us through the carnage of the evening news; it saps us through the daily monotony of failures, feuds and fading hopes. Every one of us knows evil.

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You may have realised that I am using the word “evil” very broadly to include moral evil (deceit, cruelty, pride, etc.), natural evil (disease, tsunamis…) and that last enemy, death. In the truest sense all these “evils” are unnatural, for they are disrupt the peace (shalom) of God’s good creation. They are all signs that things are not they way they ought to be.

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Not surprisingly, people find the experience of evil difficult to reconcile with the existence of a benevolent, omniscient, omnipotent God. For many atheists this philosophical “problem of evil” is a compelling argument against belief. Eighteen of the essays in 50 Voices of Disbelief at least mention the problem of evil, and for five of these it is their main topic (the essays by Russell Blackford, Nicholas Everitt, Christine Overall, Stephen Law and Gregory Benford).

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It is unfortunate that some atheists wave around the problem of evil like a winning lottery ticket, just as it is unfortunate that some Christians dismiss it with flippant theodicies. (A theodicy is an attempt to justify God’s actions. I do not mean to imply here that all theodicies are flippant, merely that theodicies of the flippant variety are particularly regrettable). However, many other people, atheist and Christian alike, demonstrate a real sensitivity to suffering, often amplified by personal tragedy. Gregory Benford’s article ‘Evil and Me’, for example, is more a sigh of despair than a carefully reasoned case. Many atheists grieve at the injustice and suffering of our world, which seem so clearly to deny God and his goodness.

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So how ought Christians respond to this?

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Generalisations have the power to reveal deep truths or to conceal deep deceptions.

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Consider the words Jesus spoke to Peter at the time of his arrest: Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword shall perish by the sword. (Matthew 26:52)

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Taken in a strict, literal sense, this is of course not accurate. Sometimes violent men die peacefully. But Jesus’ saying does capture something that is more generally true of the world. Violence incites further violence, and so its perpetrators often become its victims. Carl Williams comes to mind.

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More significantly, Jesus is beckoning us toward an even more profound insight. Peter’s actions stood in stark contrast to Jesus’. Peter drew a sword, and struck out to defend Jesus. But Jesus himself submitted to his arrest, humiliation and crucifixion. Jesus overcame evil by yielding to its fury; Jesus brought peace by suffering violence. In the same way Jesus’ followers are to be “peacemakers” who “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:9, 39). On this theme, you might also like to reflect on Hebrews 12:24 together with Genesis 4:10, 14-15. Jesus’ blood speaks a word of grace which breaks the cycle of vengeance!

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However, not all generalisations are windows into wisdom; some act as shutters to a sham. Take this quote by philosopher A. C. Grayling:

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