How can you complain about evil if you don't believe in objective morals?

Moral evil actually proves the existence of God. For we may argue in the following way:

1. If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist.

2. Evil exists.

3. Therefore, objective moral values exist. (Some things are evil!)

4. Therefore, God exists.

--William Lane Craig

I was thinking about writing down some of my thoughts on the Problem of Evil, but I figured it would make sense to head off this potential objection before it comes up. This seems like a common retort, in my perception, that Christians act like you have to believe in objective moral laws (and therefore a moral lawgiver) before you can have permission to be bothered by the existence of evil in the world.

I think a big part of the difficulty here is merely semantic. As with many philosophical disagreements that people have, it’s very important to make sure that people on both sides are using the same definitions for the concepts that are being debated. I hate to do the old cliché of just pulling up the dictionary definition, but I think it’s kinda necessary for this type of situation.

Dictionary definitions of “evil”

·         morally bad; causing harm or injury to someone; marked by bad luck or bad events (Merriam-Webster)

·         morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: (Dictionary.com)

·         the condition of being immoral, cruel, or bad, or an act of this type (Cambridge Dictionary)

That’s what some secular dictionaries say, but how do Christians define evil?

·         Biblically, evil is anything that contradicts the holy nature of God (see Psalm 51:4). (GotQuestions.org)

·         Accordingly, what is morally good is not what human society decides is in its best interest, but what the revealed will of God declares. (Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology)

·         That which is opposed to God and His purposes or that which, defined from human perspectives, is harmful and non-productive. (Holman Bible Dictionary)

I think the Holman version makes a very good observation, that the term “evil” has a very different definition when viewed from a “human perspective” (though I would’ve just said “secular”), as opposed to a Biblical perspective. As you can see from these definitions, there is at least a portion of Christians who think of things being “evil” only in terms of how contradictory they are to the will of God. So yes, I can understand if that’s the way you’re thinking about the word, why you would think that it doesn’t make sense for atheists to be making any statements about the evil in the world.

But what you’ve got to understand (addressing the “you” to any Christian readers I might happen to have) is that this spiritualized definition is not what atheists mean when they use the word “evil.” When we talk about the existence of evil and suffering in the world, we’re not talking about the existence of actions which go against the declared will of God. We’re not talking about violations of objective morality. We’re just talking about things that cause harm and go against conventional human standards of morality (like how the actual dictionaries define it). That’s all.

So next time you’re about to suggest that an atheist raising the issue of evil means that they’re tacitly acknowledging the existence of objective morals (and by extension, God), just remember that some words have different meanings to different people, and an atheist probably doesn’t mean quite the same thing as you do when you use that word.