Eric Hedin on Suffering in a Designed World

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Science, Life Sciences, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Astronomy

4.3 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Is natural evil an argument against intelligent design? And is human evil more consistent with naturalism or theism? On this classic ID The Future episode, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Dr. Eric Hedin about his article "Thoughts of Evil in a Designed World." First, Dr. Hedin discusses the problem of natural evils like earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, and other natural disasters. He reports that in the last century, the human death toll from such tragedies has dropped as we have learned to mitigate the effects of these natural forces in our lives. Hedin also discusses the impact of sickness on our bodies. "Any complex system can break down," Hedin reminds us, "because we do live in a world where the second law of thermodynamics applies not just to stars and mountainsides and physical systems but also to our own bodies." But suffering, tragic as it can be for all of us to endure, is not inconsistent with design. Then there's the other major cause of suffering in life: human evil. If humans are products of an evolutionary process, we'd expect human evil to more or less match what we see in the animal world. But as recent attacks on the people of Israel starkly demonstrate, that is not the case. We are capable of much worse, as well as much better. Dr. Hedin explains that humans have the gift of rational override, something determinists tend to forget. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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0:00.0	ID the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
0:11.9	Why would an intelligent designer of the universe allow so much suffering?
0:16.8	And is human evil most consistent with naturalism or theism?
0:21.7	Welcome to ID the Future. I'm your host, Andrew McDermott.
0:25.6	Today I'm speaking with Dr. Eric Hedin, Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana.
0:33.1	In 2013, his Boundaries of Science course at Ball State University came under attack by a national atheist organization
0:40.3	for allowing student discussions in class to consider evidence that nature is not all there is,
0:46.3	and that our lives might have eternal meaning and value within a universe specifically fitted for beings like us.
0:53.3	Dr. Hedin is author of the recent book, Canceled Science,
0:57.0	what some atheists don't want you to see.
1:00.0	He speaks regularly at universities around the country
1:03.0	and writes on the Evidence for Intelligent Design
1:05.0	at EvolutionNews.org.
1:07.0	Dr. Hedin, welcome to Idea the Future.
1:10.0	Thank you so much, Andrew.
1:11.0	It's great to be here with you today.
1:13.2	You've written a couple of articles at evolutionnews.org recently that are very insightful,
1:18.5	I thought, and timely in light of current events going on in the world right now.
1:23.3	And though this topic is evergreen, because there are many examples of human evil
1:27.3	throughout all of recorded history, we're all wrestling right now with the effects of And though this topic is evergreen, because there are many examples of human evil throughout
1:27.6	all of recorded history, we're all wrestling right now with the effects of the worst attack
1:32.6	on the people of Israel since the Holocaust. Your first article is titled, Thoughts of Evil in a
	...

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