NPR’s All Things Considered did a deep thought piece on the problem of evil last night. All summed up in 3 minutes 48 seconds, including the reporter’s name check at the end.

When a human tragedy occurs on the scale of the Newtown shootings, clergy are invariably asked an ancient question: If God is all-knowing, all-powerful and benevolent, why does he allow such misfortunes?

There’s even a word for reconciling this paradox: theodicy, or attempting to justify God’s goodness despite the existence of evil and suffering.

And thus the stage is set – it’s this recurring problem, so recurrent that there’s even a word for it, but it’s not really a problem, it’s just a paradox, so don’t worry, by … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)