Expert: Austin Cline - 4/21/2007

Question
Atheists argue that the definitions and sttributes theists give to God are
incoherent. The notions of Omnibenevolence-Omniscience and Omnipotence
have been shown to be incompatible with one another especially in a
discussion on the existence of evil. However this does not bring me any
reassurance.

These discussions tend to arise between atheists and Christians who have
different concepts of God than those of Muslims. In Islam we have a picture of
a God who is Omnipotent and Omniscient but not nocessarily
Omnibenevolent. He bestows endless mercy on some and is relentlessly cruel
to others. He has a set of conditions that would qualify/disqualify one from
being worthy of his mercy.

Do you not get worried that you may be ignoring a God who may not be as
pleasant as you think but nevertheless is capable of hurting you unless you
submit to him? Just because He comes across as cruel doesn't make his
divinity less possible.

Answer
"Do you not get worried that you may be ignoring a God who may not be as pleasant as you think but nevertheless is capable of hurting you unless you submit to him?"

1. I'm no more worried about the Muslim god than I am about Norse, Greek, or Roman gods.

2. I don't think or assume that if any gods exist, then they must be very pleasant. Christians insist that their god is good, but ultimately their depictions of their god isn't very good.

3. A cruel god would have be be acknowledged as existing, if it exists, but I wouldn't worship or obey it - no more than I would obey or follow a cruel human dictator. Might doesn't make right.