It's clear that we are the authors of Evil. We are the ones running with pitchforks. Deity is no more than a cardboard cut-out, barely paying attention if at all. Yet, so blatant are claims on behalf of the gods in our time that one is compelled to wonder how civilization came to be in such a mess. Of course humanity shares the blame, perhaps most of it, but given the deity's reputation for miraculous cures, it is surprising, no, astonishing, that human suffering is still an issue twenty-six centuries after Job made his complaint. The author remembers the last century as a time of stupendous brutality and cruelty, from which humanity has yet to recover. The truth is, he fears, that either we do not know the gods well enough to banish them, or that banishment could not come too soon. We would do well to remember Socrates and how to apply reason in our lives.

It's clear that we are the authors of Evil. We are the ones running with pitchforks. Deity is no more than a cardboard cut-out, barely paying attention if at all. Yet, so blatant are claims on behalf of the gods in our time that one is compelled to wonder how civilization came to be in such a mess. Of course humanity shares the blame, perhaps most of it, but given the deity's reputation for miraculous cures, it is surprising, no, astonishing, that human suffering is still an issue twenty-six centuries after Job made his complaint. The author remembers the last century as a time of stupendous brutality and cruelty, from which humanity has yet to recover. The truth is, he fears, that either we do not know the gods well enough to banish them, or that banishment could not come too soon. We would do well to remember Socrates and how to apply reason in our lives.