Must Atheology Prove Gods Nonexistence (Willian L. Rowe Evil is Essay

Must Atheology Prove Gods Nonexistence (Willian L. Rowe Evil is Evidence against Theistic Belief) - Essay Example Rowe considers the view of the theists that there exists an all powerful, all-knowing, perfectly good being (God) as ‘restricted theism’ as it â€Å"does not include any claim that is not entailed by it† (183). To find out whether the occurrence of evils in the world lower the likelihood of God’s existence, Rowe brings out two premises based on which he concludes that God does not exist. The two premises are, Rowe points out that theists have to reject either one of these premises if they have to prove the existence of God, and that they mostly accept the second premise, thereby rejecting the first one. Therefore, the theists will have to accept the fact that for every horrendous evil that takes place, there has to be an outweighing good for which God has no way of materializing without permitting the evil. Rowe provides two analogies to counter the argument that there is a justifying reason for God to permit horrendous evils. One is of a fawn horribly burned in a forest fire caused by lightning. It dies only after five days and has to undergo intense suffering until then, lying on the forest floor. The second analogy is of a five year old girl brutally beaten, raped, and strangled in Flint, Michigan, on New year’s day a few years ago. In both the cases, it cannot be argued that the suffering inflicted on the fawn and the girl are justifiable for some reason, as they personally do not benefit anything from the suffering and die without getting any relief. Rowe goes on to analyze two theistic responses to these analogies that point to the non-existence of God. The first one addresses the first premise and argues that the fact that we fail to understand the good that is meant by God when seemingly meaningless suffering is inflicted on us. The analogy of a child that is put to suffering by its parents for an unavoidable surgical procedure