How do Unitarians respond to “the problem of evil”?
Unitarians tend to see the world and its inhabitants in positive terms. This doesn’t mean, though, that we are not conscious of “evil”. The Unitarian theologian, James Martineau, described the so-called “problem of evil” as “this old and terrible perplexity” – and so it is. Unitarians are reluctant to produce glib solutions to it. As far as “natural evil” (disease, earthquakes, hurricanes and so on) is concerned, Unitarians see it simply as part and parcel of living on this planet. We would not regard such phenomena as the result of supernatural agency or divine wrath. But we might want to ask just how “natural” some of these disasters really are. It is often the case that human action, or the neglect of it, can greatly exacerbate or even cause an apparently “natural” disaster. The destruction of forests, for example, is implicated in such disastrous events as flooding, landslides, climate change, and desertification. Thus the boundaries between “natural evil” and “human” or “moral” ev
