If God is all powerful and all loving, why is there evil and suffering?
The problem of evil and suffering: the difference between moral and natural evil, the challenge it poses to belief in an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God, and Christian responses including free will, soul-making and the example of Jesus.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to the problem of evil and suffering in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers moral and natural evil, the challenge to belief in an all powerful and all loving God, and Christian responses including free will, soul-making and the example of Jesus.
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What this dot point is asking
You need to explain the problem of evil and suffering: the difference between moral and natural evil, the challenge it poses to belief in an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God, and the main Christian responses, including free will, soul-making and the example of Jesus. CCEA examiners reward a clear statement of the problem, knowledge of the Christian responses, and balanced evaluation. The strongest answers explain why the problem is serious and then weigh the responses to it.
Moral and natural evil
The distinction matters because the two kinds of evil call for slightly different responses: moral evil is linked to human freedom, while natural evil is harder to explain.
The challenge to belief
The problem of evil is one of the strongest challenges to belief in God. It can be set out as follows:
- If God is omnipotent (all powerful), God could prevent evil and suffering.
- If God is omnibenevolent (all loving), God would want to prevent it.
- Yet evil and suffering clearly exist, often on a huge scale, including the suffering of the innocent.
This seems to clash with belief in a God who is both all powerful and all loving: it appears that either God cannot stop suffering, or does not want to, or does not exist. For many people this is a powerful reason to doubt God.
Christian responses
These responses do not remove all suffering, but they aim to show that belief in a good God can still make sense in a world that contains evil.
Practical Christian responses to suffering
As well as these explanations, Christians respond to suffering in practical ways. They believe they should follow Jesus' example by helping those who suffer: caring for the sick, comforting the grieving, and working to relieve poverty and injustice through charity and action. Prayer is also important, both asking for God's help and trusting God in hard times. So for Christians, the problem of evil is met not only with arguments but with compassion and action.
How to answer a question on the problem of evil
A model paragraph built from this method: "The free will defence argues that God gave humans free will, the freedom to choose between good and evil. This freedom is a great good, because love and goodness only mean something if they are chosen freely rather than forced. The price of this freedom is that people can choose to do evil, so much suffering, the moral evil in the world, comes from the misuse of free will rather than from God." This scores highly because it explains the response step by step and shows how it defends belief in God.
Try this
Q1. What is the difference between moral and natural evil? [2 marks]
- Cue. Moral evil is suffering caused by human choices; natural evil is suffering not caused by humans, such as disease and disasters.
Q2. Why does the problem of evil challenge belief in God? [2 marks]
- Cue. An all powerful, all loving God could and would want to stop suffering, yet suffering exists, which seems to clash with belief in such a God.
Q3. What is the soul-making response to the problem of evil? [2 marks]
- Cue. That a world with challenges and suffering allows people to grow in courage, compassion and faith, becoming better people.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of CCEA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
CCEA Unit 7 (style)5 marksExplain the problem of evil and suffering for belief in God.Show worked answer →
A five-mark AO1 question. Explain the problem clearly in developed steps.
God's qualities: believers say God is omnipotent (all powerful) and omnibenevolent (all loving), so God could and would want to stop evil and suffering.
The reality of evil: yet there is great evil and suffering in the world, both moral evil caused by humans and natural evil such as disease and disasters.
The challenge: this seems to clash with God's qualities, since an all powerful, all loving God appears to have the power and the desire to prevent it, raising the question of why God allows it.
Develop each step to show why this is a real challenge to belief. Two or three explained points reach the top of the mark band.
CCEA Unit 7 (style)12 marks'The problem of evil shows that God does not exist.' Consider different points of view.Show worked answer →
A twelve-mark AO2 evaluation question. Give different points of view, refer to the statement and reach a justified judgement.
Agree: critics argue that the amount and severity of suffering, especially of the innocent, makes it hard to believe in an all powerful, all loving God, so for many the problem of evil counts against God's existence.
Other views: believers respond with the free will defence (evil is the price of genuine freedom), soul-making (suffering helps people grow), and the example of Jesus, who suffered and brings hope, so they argue belief in God survives the problem.
Judgement: argue that the problem of evil is a serious challenge that leads some to reject God, but believers offer responses that, for them, keep faith reasonable, so it does not prove God does not exist. A balanced, supported judgement that refers to the statement reaches the top level.
Related dot points
- Arguments for the existence of God: the design (teleological) argument, the cause (cosmological) argument, the argument from religious experience and miracles, and the main objections to each.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to arguments for the existence of God in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers the design argument, the cause argument, the argument from religious experience and miracles, and the main objections to each, with worked exam technique.
- The nature of God in philosophy: belief in God as omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent, as transcendent and immanent, and as personal, and the questions these qualities raise.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to the nature of God in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers belief in God as omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent, as transcendent and immanent, and as personal, and the philosophical questions these qualities raise.
- Experiencing God: ways believers claim to experience God, including prayer, worship, the numinous, conversion and miracles, what these experiences mean to believers, and the main reasons people question them.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to experiencing God in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers ways believers claim to experience God including prayer, worship, the numinous, conversion and miracles, what they mean to believers, and the main reasons people question them.
- Life after death: Christian beliefs about the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul, beliefs about heaven, hell and judgement, arguments used to support belief in life after death, and the main objections.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to life after death in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers Christian beliefs about resurrection and the soul, heaven, hell and judgement, arguments used to support belief in life after death, and the main objections.
Sources & how we know this
- CCEA GCSE Religious Studies specification — CCEA (2017)