Re: Creationists

Ralph Lewis (rlewis@csulb.edu)
Tue, 23 Jun 1998 15:17:01 -0700

>What, like faith that it is impossible to (or that we
>shouldn't) overcome evil and all that which ails us? After all, if
>there is a God, we must find some way to justify why God hasn't
>overcome evil. If an all powerful God can't (or shouldn't) overcome
>evil, we must abandon all hope that we can (or should) overcome evil
>with our science. If God can't, how can we?

The question of evil is interesting. Somehow in history evil and religion go
together. Remember the crusades and inquisition. The readers of this list
might like the section "The Profit Motive Behind The Inquisition" in Richard
Zacks'
"An Underground Education" (Doubleday). Find any church and they will want
your money and freedom. And if you don't give it to them, they will find
some way to try to take them.

The question of evil is not to be solved by religion but by economics. Check
out Raymond Smullyan's essay "Is God a Taoist?". Evil in the long run is
simply uneconomical. BTW the essay can be found in Hofstadter and Dennett's
book "The Mind's I" (Basic Books).

Best Ralph

Ralph Lewis, Professor of Management and Human Resources
College of Business
California State University, Long Beach
Long Beach, California
rlewis@csulb.edu http://www.csulb.edu/~rlewis