Examine how faith in God may be challenged by natural and moral evil.

The existence of natural and moral evil may challenge faith in God as it creates a logical problem with regards to the three fundamental characteristics usually associated with Him. If God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing) and omnibenevolent (all-good) then evil should not exist in the world, for God would know of it, and want (due to his benevolence) to rid the world of it. Furthermore, it may challenge faith in God for it seems unintelligible why such a God (were He to exist) would allow evil into the world in the first place, given his assumed ownership of the characteristics we have described.
The existence of natural evil on a large scale, for example natural disasters such as tsunamis, may provide a strong challenge to faith in God. While free will may be used to justify the existence of moral evil, the indiscriminate and extreme suffering caused by natural disasters seems unintelligible as part of a benevolent God's plan for the universe. The fact that God would allow such natural evil to occur forces us to either doubt his benevolence (and thus doubt a fundamental characteristic of God), or to doubt in God altogether.

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Answered by James P. Religious Studies tutor

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