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Is God evil?

There have been tens of thousands of Imaginary Bearded Sky Parents, mostly Daddoies, imagined in human history. For each such deity, it does not exist.

In the case of the Imaginary Bearded Sky Daddy that Jews, Muslims, and Christians kill, torture, bomb, maim, and malign each other over, the characteristics attributed to this laughable invention are so paradoxical as to prove it can not exist without consulting theology for additional mythological details or science for facts. But if it did exist, it would be evil.
 
As others have said god is not evil because it does not exist, but IMHO the Catholic Church must be considered one of the most evil organizations of all time.

The survival of the organization is all that matters to them. Doesn't matter how many people suffer or die, all in the name of god. For a somber reminder watch, "Deliver us From Evil".
 
GT/CS said:
As others have said god is not evil because it does not exist, but IMHO the Catholic Church must be considered one of the most evil organizations of all time.

The survival of the organization is all that matters to them. Doesn't matter how many people suffer or die, all in the name of god. For a somber reminder watch, "Deliver us From Evil".
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:clap:
 
If it's Christianity you're talking about, the Old Testament God is evil by the standards of the New Testament God. They're not even speaking to each other.
 
RobRoy said:
No offense, but what's this supposed to prove? I can quote three equally well-known folk who believe heart and soul in God. Providing quotes doesn't really equate to answering the OP, or addressing any of the subsequent responses.
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Agreed, and we should all remember this when next we see theists quoting chapter and verse from the "holey' babble to prove their point.

:)
 
geni said:
So collateral damage is evil now?
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Extraordinary. You see no problem with an All-Knowing God murdering innocent children? The entire point of collateral damage is that the deaths are either unavoidable or unknown. He's God for crying out loud. Couldn't he rest them on a high-rise mountain until the flood was over?

How pleasant was it, exactly, for those innocent children to drown in an unrelenting downfall, perhaps being torn from their mothers arms?

It appears almost any codified set of laws is better than nothing. Which is probably why Draco's laws lasted as long as they did.
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A law that allows the murder of a non-virgin on her wedding night is implemented by the creator of the universe, and you are defending it, saying it is better than no law at all.

Geni, can I sell a talking doll of you with "Christian apologist" on the box (Of course, there would have to be "Warning: Morally unsound" on the back for children)?
 
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Undesired Walrus said:
A law that allows the murder of a non-virgin on her wedding night is implemented by the creator of the universe, and you are defending it, saying it is better than no law at all.
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"[Murder]...implemented by the creator of the universe...?"

Or implemented by the faulty interpretation of "God's Law" (if such a thing exists) by very ordinary human beings?

This type of discussion is why I sometimes feel ashamed to claim to be agnostic.
 
stilicho said:
Or implemented by the faulty interpretation of "God's Law" (if such a thing exists) by very ordinary human beings?
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There isn't really much room for a faulty interpretation of "God's Law" to be had in that particular section of the Bible. This isn't someone else speaking for Him, this is Him going "And these are the Laws that ye shall"... The only possible conclusion we can come to is that God's voice was scrambled when within Moses' skull. If you want to extend faulty interpretation to that, you may as well extend faulty interpretation to the 10 Commandments.

It's a legitimate issue, as Jesus asks his followers to love and worship this horrific figure. Not to mention a presidential candidate in 2007, Rudy Giuliani, declaring the worrying absurdity that the Bible is "The best book ever written".

What kind of teaching does that set for children?
 
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Undesired Walrus said:
Extraordinary. You see no problem with an All-Knowing God murdering innocent children?
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Murder again generaly requires that they belong to the same species as you.

The entire point of collateral damage is that the deaths are either unavoidable or unknown.
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Nope. The point of collateral damage is that they are deaths you are prepared to accept in order to atchive your objective. Sometimes they may be unknown but they don't need to be.

He's God for crying out loud. Couldn't he rest them on a high-rise mountain until the flood was over?
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So you want to put a bunch of kids on top of a mountian where I understand there is generaly very little food or shelter?

How pleasant was it, exactly, for those innocent children to drown in an unrelenting downfall, perhaps being torn from their mothers arms?
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Well there is the small issue that that didn't actualy happen. Given the rate at which it would have had to rain I doubt they would have had time to notice. 5.3m of rain an hour is likely to be lethal on it's own.

A law that allows the murder of a non-virgin on her wedding night is implemented by the creator of the universe, and you are defending it, saying it is better than no law at all.
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"It is said that Drakon himself, when asked why he had fixed the punishment of death for most offences, answered that he considered these lesser crimes to deserve it, and he had no greater punishment for more important ones"-Plutarch

Haveing seen what happens when there is no legal system even Drakon's law were better than nothing.
 
I'd say that the people who came up with the Abrahamic god were some combination of evil and crazy. As far as I can tell from the Bible, the Hebrews were a bunch of genocidal rapists, and very proud of it. Of course they created a sick and twisted deity as a reflection of all their worst traits, in order to justify those traits.
 
stilicho said:
This type of discussion is why I sometimes feel ashamed to claim to be agnostic.
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Is there some other way that you might describe what it is you do and/or don't believe that would let you feel more comfortable?

I'm really asking this seriously, because your statement leaves me perplexed.

I gather that it is not clear to you that Yahweh is a genocidal baby killing mass murderer who approves of slavery, misogyny, and has some really odd dress code rules.
 
JoeEllison said:
I'd say that the people who came up with the Abrahamic god were some combination of evil and crazy. As far as I can tell from the Bible, the Hebrews were a bunch of genocidal rapists, and very proud of it. Of course they created a sick and twisted deity as a reflection of all their worst traits, in order to justify those traits.
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According to Valentinian Gnosticism, what happened was that the ALL lost awareness of what it was and began to seek its source. It got lost in a fog, I think was the metaphor the Gospel of Truth used. In so doing it created a controlling and jealous image of deity - the OT "God."

Thus gnostics usually assert that this God is not so much evil but rather created through error. It seems to have been that these gnostics attempted to correct this error, when they saw the emergence of orthodox Christianity around 200 CE, through creating their philosophy. It held that the orthodox canon was merely a primary level of human initiation or experience, and that, for those ready, belief in this deity should be overcome. Needless to say, this didn't really happen in actuality.

Nick
 
Blue_Sargasso said:
The curious thing is that the "God" worshipped by Christians, Jews and Muslims is, according to the Gnostics, pure evil. Isn't it totally amazing that billions of people worship a God that some people believe to be the very quintessence of wickedness? Judging by some of the things that Christians, Jews and Muslims inflict on their fellow human beings (mass murder, torture, inquisition, suicide bombings, massacres, death camps etc), don't the Gnostics have a very good case?
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Hypothetically, it could only be a test of character, sanity and resolve from beginning to end. It inspires every property of human madness: Confusion, distress, bewilderment, entitlement, effect before cause, with historical events and symbols of nature's processes. It is an artful (or artless as a better word) inversion of healthy human behavior. In monotheistic traditions like Islam the contradiction is so complete it could essentially be argued divinely inspired.
 
fuelair said:
My view, not who you asked, but....
There is evil in the world (won't cover all of it, and what I will cover is quite sufficient for me) : children are killed/mutilated/foully mistreated all over the world every day; people are harmed/ etc./killed every day. IF there was a god and IF that god allows this, THEN that god is pure evil and it is my duty to track down and do my best to destroy it.
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And if you were in circumstances far more unfair and responsible for the world...
 
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PBTree said:
Agreed, and we should all remember this when next we see theists quoting chapter and verse from the "holey' babble to prove their point.

:)
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Quotations are a legitimate form of evidence, but they are not self-supporting. They are used to build a case, along with a number of other tools, to put forth a concept. I don't mind anyone quoting the Bible, or other text, so long as they're not just flinging out quotes with no analysis. This is akin to using a shotgun to swat a fly: you end up with a big mess and you may not even accomplish your goal.
 
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