January 3, 2005

Theodicy in a Nutshell

John Derbyshire, who is, along with Meghan Cox Gurdon (a cat of a diferent color), my favorite at National Review, provides us with this pithy riff on theodicy:

I never got much deeper into theodicy than the exchange in Time Bandits where the kid asks God (played by Ralph Richardson): "Why did you create evil?" God: "Oh, I forget. Something to do with free will, I think."

Horrors like the S. Asian tsunami have very little to do with free will, of course, and much more to do with the great cold indifference of the universe. Very hard to square with an involved Deity. I can't do it myself, yet I am constitutionally unable to NOT believe in that Deity. I think I'll go lie down for a while.

All the rest is commentary.

HT: Hugh Hewitt.

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