Like many of you reading this, I describe myself as a flaming liberal.  Yet in one area I am a conservative.  I am an atheist.

On Friday, May 23, 2008, 5:00-6:00 p.m., Minnesota Atheists president August Berkshire appeared on "KKMS Live with Jeff and Lee" on AM 980 KKMS Christian talk radio in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. (The station's slogan is "More Spirited Talk Radio".)  To stream the recording, go to http://www.kkmslive.com/MP3/17052308-AugustBerkshire.MP3.

I have been giving this talk for the past two years specifically to Christian colleges where I am invited to speak. The impetus happened three years ago, speaking to a “Creative Evangelism” class taught by Sherry Bunge Mortenson at Bethel University in St. Paul. A student asked what would convince me that God exists? I named a few miracles that would at least convince me that something supernatural exists. But the question stuck in my mind and I naturally began to think of what wouldn’t convince me. Thus, if the goal of these students was to evangelize an atheist, it seemed perfectly appropriate that I give them a list of what wouldn’t work, so they could creatively come up with some new arguments, as their class title suggests. I meant this to be educational and in no way condescending, and that is how I hope the students perceive my presentation.

If a claim is made (such as “God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving”) that contradicts the evidence (evil exists), then the claim must be wrong. This “problem of evil” is one of the most powerful arguments atheists have against the type of god most people believe in. Something that has an internal contradiction cannot be true, and a being that has an internal contradiction cannot exist.

Because the problem of evil is so difficult for religious people to overcome, they have developed some pretty creative responses. One day I decided to list these responses, along with the reasons I found them unconvincing.

I have mixed feelings about religious people’s responses to the problem of evil. On the one hand, as a creative person myself, I admire the excuses they come up with. On the other hand, I am frustrated that these religious people fail to appreciate that their excuses are inadequate to explain away the horrible behavior of their god.