So our world is full of pain and suffering. Every day we read about new instances of really regrettable, horrible things.

Shootings, terrorist attacks, horrific car accidents, devastating natural disasters. In addition to events like these, they're all the hidden personal sufferings that don't make the national headlines.

Countless people among our friends and family, as well as strangers unknown to us,

quietly suffer afflictions such as depression, drug addiction, failed relationships, and rejections.

So the obvious fact that our world includes much suffering of many different kinds has become the starting point of one of the oldest and most compelling arguments against the existence of God.

So the argument known as the problem of evil goes as follows.

And this is the first bullet point on your handout.

I've labeled it the atheistic argument.

So if there's a God, then there can be no evil, but there is evil, so therefore there can be no God.

Now, why you might ask is the existence of God incompatible with evil? Well, if God is supposed to be all-knowing,

as the traditional religion say, then God would be aware of all the evils happening in the world.

For example, God would know about the terrorist plot before the attack happened.

Furthermore, if God is all-powerful, God would be able to stop all evil.

An omnipotent being like God could wipe out not only terrorists, but also ailments like

childhood cancer. And finally, if God is supposed to be all good, as the religious people say,

God would want to stop all the evils in our world. So you and I aren't infinitely good

as God is supposed to be, but even we would want to end the suffering that we read about in the news

every day, if only we were able. So if God is the sort of being who would know about all evil,

be able to stop all evil, and want to stop all evil, then it should follow that

if there were a God, all evil would have been eliminated in the world. But clearly there is evil

in our world. So it seems that there cannot also be an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good God.

So variations of this argument have been put forth by philosophers and theologians

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