Religious people say that evil is just the abuse of good. So it is not a
power or presence. That helps
them deny that God made evil. They say there is nothing there to make.
So God according to them, makes only good.
Now this calls good the default. It is the natural state of all things. And it is also held that even if it were not, we would still make good the default position. So it is both a default in itself and a default in how we respond.
They say God and good go together and cannot be really separated. If so the atheist is evil, for having a defective and weak idea of good.
Let us look at if the assumption of God or faith in him is the default for us human beings.
Go back to when you were a child before you were conditioned and influenced by adults and religious concepts.
The default is not believing in God. Or thinking you do not know either way. Or believing in God. The default is best described as ignoring the issue. Yet this ignoring is still a form of non-theism. A child who treats an adult if they were not there at all is treating that adult as a non-person - effectively denying their existence or value. If God is of fundamental importance, surpassing the importance of any human person, then to not think him important, or care if he exists, means you dispute that God is God. It is implicit or tacit denial.
It may progress to explicit affirmation, "There is no God."
Back to how religion says evil is a gap and a nothing. Test its logic in relation to belief in God and atheism. The atheism we mean is explicit rejection of the existence of God - the belief that God is nonsense. This is a confusing nuanced topic so read the following twice.
Belief in God and God for many can amount to being the same thing. It could be like how they believe in somebody they think you know. They feel close to them not realising that it is how they see them that they are close to, not them.
Belief in God is supposed to be a gift from God. He wants to know you and you to know him so he helps you learn about him. People who have no such gift but think they have, effectively mistake belief in God for God.
Now it is time connect that to the notion of evil being a defect.
Is belief in God a positive thing? Is atheism simply the absence of belief? Is belief in God a power and unbelief not a power, but just an abuse of belief?
The answers are yes if belief in God is functionally God.
And remember the answers are also yes if it is evil to fail to see the connection between God and good to the extent that you say there is no God at all.
Atheism is a belief and it is patronising to atheists to say that atheism is an abuse of belief in God! Don't let the religious tell us what is in our hearts and minds. It is not their place to. Don't let them degrade your views by making out they are worthless. To say belief in God is something and belief in atheism is nothing is dehumanising atheists. The patronising that is going on here is the worst for it treats your atheism as a non-thing. It cannot do that without implying that you in some sense are a non-thing as well. Your views come from you and show facets of your personhood. To insult John's homework is to insult the creator of the homework - John!
Belief in God is actually disbelief in all other gods and magic. It is the absence of other version of theistic beliefs. Why say belief in God is a positive thing when it is the absence of other such beliefs? Why not say that all beliefs are real beliefs? (I mean they are beliefs as far as intention goes not that they are all correct).
Suppose error is the mere abuse of truth or the absence of truth. If belief in God alone is good then it follows that any other contrary belief is just the absence of belief in God. Belief in God sets the standard. In other words, it is evil not to believe in God and the stronger your faith in his existence and in him the better. Everybody who is not a believer in God then is evil. Everybody who is a believer but who does not believe strongly enough is evil up to a point but not as bad as an atheist.
If God is perfect as Christianity says then it follows that all doubt or disbelief in relation to God is evil. It is the worst evil of all for it refuses to acknowledge and adore the supreme good which is God. Also one's belief needs to be as strong as possible for in so far as one's belief is not full there is doubt.
Unbelief is the absence of faith but it is not just that. Religion says it is just that. However unbelief is a power of its own too.
God by definition is all that matters. So belief in him is of supreme value . To stress belief in God so much is insulting. Unbelief in yourself and your value is the root of all evil. For example, if you believe in your power to be happy you will not be misguidedly trying to be happy through robbing banks and hurting people. Unbelief in yourself is the essence of evil as well. Therefore it makes no sense to say that God did not make evil for evil is just the absence of good.
If he is creator, he creates our unbelief and the way we see things. He makes the emotions that incline us to harm others.
We found that belief in God would be better than nothing if there is a God of pure goodness.
Faith is a more personal form of belief. Instead of merely intellectually affirming that God probably exists, you offer your belief to him and base feelings for him and a relationship with him on it.
Faith and belief then are different. So now, how does faith impact on we have learned?
If evil is the absence of God and if God wants friendship with us and we need to be his friends too, then evil is also the absence of faith in God.
So the believer in God who lacks commitment and love is consorting with evil.
If lack of belief/faith in God are evil then the atheist is to be seen as evil by default. Tacitly, once one asserts God they are asserting that the atheist the worst creature imaginable. Atheist goodness is that of a wolf in the clothing of a sheep. The heart is full of dark intent. The believer who has a mustard seed of faith is being treated as lesser compared to the holy and saintly pope simply because the pope is a convinced believer in God.
Do not forget that if atheists are not intentionally evil in that, they are still inherently evil. They just don't see which makes them less than human.
All those logical outcomes of the notion "God does not make evil for only good
is real and evil is the misuse of good" show that God belief may have to be
rethought. It
deceives by posing as a good and healthy and wise belief. The atheist has
the right to be concerned about how it causes people to view atheism and
atheists.