Euthanasia

Atheists love evil, or rather, ‘the problem of evil’ is one of those things that believers struggle with, and atheists tend to view as a slam-dunk type argument against your generic monotheistic god.

The problem of evil, though, is probably better described as the problem of suffering. Suffering exists in the world, and so if you are going to claim to have the answers, you need to address this.

The standard christian responses tend to be along the lines of ‘freedom of choice’ leads to it, and they often rely on characterizing suffering as necessary, or part of the plan. No pain, not gain; for your soul. However, its not just a christian issue, the karma cycle of Hinduism is based around an understanding suffering, and Buddha claimed to know the way to escape suffering, via his middle way.

What if you don’t believe in gods? Then, isn’t suffering just a fact of life, maybe something to be avoided and minimized, in the utilitarian sense, but of little consequence otherwise.

That’s the thing though, while not a law in the sense of physics, suffering is pervasive in our world, so if we are going to claim to derive meaning from the world, then the existence of suffering means something, even in a godless universe.

This becomes more clear when you consider the problem of suffering, not just in the day to day #firstworldproblems sense of the word, but especially when it comes to end of life issues.

Most of us, quite happily, don’t know what it really means to suffer, but suffering and discomfort is one of those things that waits most of us as we age and die. And when it comes to death, its really up to each of us to decide how much suffering is too much, how much of this world, is too much.

But it also goes further than that, as we consider whether or not to reproduce, or even continue our own lives. If suffering is so pervasive in life, not just in the human context, but elsewhere as well, are we just kidding ourselves with ideas of ‘minimizing it’, and reducing harm? What does it say about life, that there is so much suffering, and what does it say about us, that we are products of it?

Sorry, if this sounds all emo, but if we are going to criticize others for ignoring the implications of suffering within their belief systems, I think we need to seriously address it within our own.