Offshoot discussion of "what religion are you" thread

[Amandil]

But, if hell is only the absence of God, does that then mean that it also holds no evil? I've always thought that hell is a place where evil reigns, but according to your post hell is simply a lack of God?

If God is the ground of all goodness, then the abject lack of God would mean the abject lack of all goodness. Hell, then, would be the abject lack of all goodness (this is why Christians think it's a bad place, as I said above). Where else would evil reign if not in the place where goodness is impossible?

So if hell is not evil, does evil really exist? If so, where does it originate?

Hell is the only place evil has left to go. I wouldn't worry too much about hell not being evil.

But the question of the real existence of evil is a giant philosophical problem. Evil certainly exists as a phenomenon of experience. That is, we experience evil so it seems to us like it exists, anyway. Whether or not evil is an actual thing, though, like an albatros or a radiator is a thing, is not at all clear. I think St. Augustine's idea that evil is a lack of goodness where there really ought to be goodness is still a pretty darn good definition of evil. On that view ("the privation theory of evil"), no, evil doesn't "really" exist at all. It's just the absence of a good that should exist (and there are goods that need not exist -- they're called supererogatory goods). And of course absences don't really exist, unless you want to play funny word games -- absences are the exact opposite of existence, and evil is the kind of absence that ought not to be an absence (language has trouble with speaking about lacks -- we have to use the verb "to be" to describe things that aren't there!). But that doesn't change the fact that it sucks horrendously to have to suffer those sorts of deprivations -- and that's real enough for us!

I gather by the last bit of your question (excepting the blonde-day part) that you think that evil originates in hell. I don't think that's quite right. Evil doesn't originate in hell; rather, hell is the only place left for evil to go (other than obliterating it, which wouldn't take seriously [among others] the people who prefer evil). Evil originates, according to the usual Christian understanding (I hope I'm getting it right -- feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) solely in the wills of creatures capable of making moral decisions. That is, even though a donkey can choose this or that pile of hay, a donkey can't decide to be an asshole (the potential for further puns is tempting!). People can decide to be very bad or good indeed, so insofar as they choose to be very bad, they are an origin of evil. Many Christians also believe that non-corporeal beings (i.e., angels) can choose to be very bad. The ones that did choose to be very bad ended up as "demons," lead by the first (and baddest?) one, "Satan." Personally, I think there's enough human evil around to really bother thinking about demons too. But that's just me.

Don't know if that was helpful or not. It's pretty short and pretty dense. Maybe if you have a brunette-day tommorrow it will be easier to understand, or maybe I did such a bad job at explaining it I should do it all over again. At any rate, I'm done for now.

Love,