In this paper, I will examine how the presence of evil makes it unreasonable to believe in the existence of God by using arguments and propositions presented in Mackie`s ``Evil and Omnipotence`` and Van Inwagen`s ``The problem of Evil, Air and Silence``. Mackie`s paper examines various fallacious solutions presented by the theists against his presented problem of evil and he also, explains the validity of his position as a friendly atheist. On the other hand, Van Inwagen paper explains that there is no coherent reasoning to use the problem of evil to prove that the belief in God is irrational. My arguments and conclusions supports the validity of the premise presented for the problem of evil in Mackie`s paper, also it will help in investigating some of the flaws presented by Van Inwagen`s evidential argument for the existence of evil.
Mackie introduces his argument by defining the problem of evil, which according to him renders various religious belief systems irrational. He describes his argument by introducing three propositions, which together create this problem of evil. The three inter-related contradictory propositions are: ``God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists (Mackie, p200) ``. He further discusses that theists often try to defend this problem by limiting what an omnipotent being…show more content… His conclusion is that genuine problems come up with evidence, and the problem of evil is a problem but not one that makes belief in God irrational. We don't have enough information to solve these problems. The evidence available to all doesn't answer the question either way. We can come up with explanations one way or the other, but it doesn't necessarily convince