What is the difference between an athiest's idea of 'evil' and a Christian's?

Question

Talk about 'evil' to so many athiests and they don't bat an eyelid. Talk about ghosts and demons in films, and they still don't.

Mr Knowitall - very good. Can you elaborate further with it?

Conan - yeh OK! You could answer it as well.

dashboard - while the secular world thinks it is has freedom because it says religion is wrong, so much crap goes on instead. It is time we got this into perspective.

digyourman - this is what I'm getting at. Does Christianity teach that evil is something that people can do, while the average atheist believes there are evil people and people who aren't evil? Who has the more realistic idea?

That is helpful Jessika but I think a scientific description of those qualities is useful, more so. As a Christian, what do you feel about secular ideas of evil?

Answer 1

I am an atheist and my idea of evil is not demons and fire and damnation, because I don't believe in any of that. My idea of evil is just the worst the world has to offer- child molesters, animal abusers, abusive parents, etc.

Answer 2

This is an interesting question, and there are some good answers.

As an atheist and a humanist, I would say that "evil" is something that harms other people. My personal moral code is to try and do everything possible to avoid causing that harm, and prevent it where possible.

A Christian would probably act in the same way: but rather than realising he or she does so out of basic human empathy, they feel the need to invent a "god" figure which commands them to do good and avoid evil. They claim that this is the only way to have a consistent picture of good and evil. But it doesn't actually do what they claim, because we then get the problem of whether something is "good" purely because God commanded it, and "evil" because he forbade it? If so, what is to stop God from commanding something that we would recognise as "evil"?

That's not a purely rhetorical question. The Bible is filled with stories of God doing exactly that - getting the Israelites to massacre people and then rape the women and young girls, for example. Even in relatively modern times we've seen slavery justified by its presence in "God's word", the Bible - if God commands it, it must be OK.

Answer 3

An atheist's idea of evil is teleological. Nothing is 'good' or 'bad' in and of itself, it's good or bad because something good or bad comes of it.

To a Christian (well, to -some- Christians), things are good or bad because they are according to or against God's will. If God said he doesn't like it, then it's -bad- just on the face of it.

Now most atheists are simply people who don't believe something. That doesn't take any brains or thinking or anything, to just not believe something. But an atheist who's really thought about his position, one who can give a good account of himself in an argument, might tell you that 'evil' is just the absence of good. There's no such thing a 'dark', or 'cold' or 'black', they are all just the absence of light or heat or color. So 'evil' could be seen as just the absence of good, not a separate force. Some theists see it this way too!

Answer 4

I'm Christian, and I understand evil to be what is contrary to what God told us to do. Evil is also found inherently in human nature; we are born selfish and rude and it takes a lot to change that. Lots of denominations have different answers, too. Some say that things like dancing and movies are evil because they aren't good; others say that if it isn't forbidden expressly in the Bible, it's okay. Christians have many different viewpoints on how bad you have to be before you're evil.

Answer 5

an atheist considers 'evil' anything which hurts people or animals.

a believer considers 'evil' anything which goes against the will of god.

hence atheists regularly have moral problems with stuff like pro-choice legislation (at what point in a pregnancy does the convenience of the fetus outweigh the convenience of the mother?) or animal testing (how much benefit to humans is a reasonable set-off against x amount of suffering caused to an animal?)

believers happily circumcise their children, force them to attend hell-house indoctrinations, punish them for 'deviant' sexuality, and in extreme cases kill them - because they are right to do so.

Answer 6

There is no such thing as "evil" my dear.

There is mental illness, poor choices, lack of education, and hatred. No evil though. Nature and nurture make those things happen.

Ghosts and demons don't exist, so why would I "bat an eyelid?"

Answer 7

The only diffrence is the consequences..Atheists believe that bad done on Earth will be punished on earth-jail time etc...
They believe wrongful actions are still wrong..they too have morals and ethics. But there's is of the "here" and "now"- they worry about the ppl who are effected by the wrong doings "now" they worry about punishing them "now"

Christians may too, but they also believe in consequences after death. Atheists do not

Answer 8

Let's imagine that I believe in God. Let's imagine that I believe that the gifts that God has given me are to be treasured and cultivated, polished to their highest gloss, merely out of respect for the Giver.

Let's now imagine that the gift of language is one of God's greatest gifts. Would it not be nearly blasphemous to continue to misspell "atheist" when there are so many examples of the correct spelling available?

Doesn't this amount to insulting God?

Isn't that evil?

Answer 9

The Christian's idea of evil is of someone being greedy and lazy, or committing buggery. The atheist's idea of evil is the Christian saying that.
.

Answer 10

A Christian understands the truth about evil, the atheist don't have a clue, just an opinion.