This letter to the editor is related to Mackie’s Evil and Omnipotence. The author is agreeing with Mackie’s point of view. He is saying that God cannot possibly exist because evil exists. His argument is very persuasive even though he gives very little evidence to prove that God does not exist other than the fact that there is evil in the universe. He basically says that God does not exist since evil exists and he thinks that everyone has to agree with him. Although his argument is persuasive some people could disagree and have a counterargument.
The beginning of the letter starts with him saying that no one should even be allowed to state their opinion without experiencing a certain degree of evil first. His example of evil is the holocaust. His belief is that no one can have an opinion without experiencing the holocaust by going to the holocaust museum. Once people go through the museum and see all of the evil that the holocaust…show more content… Someone would object to the authors argument by saying that that only way to bring about certain greater goods is by God allowing evil to exist. Having surgery is a good example of this. Undergoing surgery causes pain and agony, but it is needed to achieve a greater good—better health. One could also say that evil is needed for our moral development. We become better people when we resist or overcome some sort of evil. Like I stated in the previous paragraph, the author of the letter does not say this but if he was confronted with this counter argument I believe he would say back that God could have made all humans perfectly healthy and unable to get sick. He would also question them about the evil that happens to little children—why does evil fall upon little children when they are too young to become morally better people? Lastly, he would bring up the point of the amount of evil—do we need that much evil to make ourselves better