I intend to look at this argument in further detail and find which side of the argument is more difficult to explain and sustain. This is the structure in which I hope to attempt it:

Assess the existence of the phenomena evil.

Evaluate the attributes of the theistic God in the order of; Omnipotence, Benevolence and Omniscience, considering both theist and atheist arguments in relation to these.

Concluding comments and thoughts.

To begin we will deal with whether evil exists as that is what all arguments concerned hinge upon. If evil exists then the contention is that a good God cannot. If it can be logically proved that evil doesn’t exist then the phenomena doesn’t pose a problem for the theist who believes God does indeed exist.

It has been argued that evil is an illusion but this is rather detached form the harsh reality of human suffering that we see and hear about across the world everyday. The wars, diseases, earthquakes, the human torture and the drugs seem too real to be an illusion. The sheer quantity of evil is proof of it’s existence. Evil is a definite reality because it causes pain and takes lives. This weighs heavily on the side of God’s non-existence.

However, this has been taken by some to not necessarily mean that a good God does not exist. In fact one of the main arguments is that evil is part of God’s greater design, that suffering is a necessary condition created by a good God, for our moral developments as free agents. To basically give us the freedom of choice between good and evil.

As we have seen through evidence and logic evil exists. This is the most powerful weapon an atheist employs to claim God’s non-existence. They argue that if there is a God, an all powerful (omnipotent) God then he wouldn’t have permitted evil or would have protected us from it. If there is a wholly good (benevolent) God then he would not want us to suffer pain and unhappiness. If God knows everything (omniscient), then he should amount of evil and suffering there would be in the world and would prevent it. The existence of such a theistic God is improbable.