Plurationalist Dialogue 300, “Why Would God Allow Suffering?”

The reasoning theists, atheists, liberals, libertarians, & conservatives of Secular Bible Study, First Minneapolis Circle of Reason, Circle of Ijtihad, & Winnipeg Circle of Reason join Interbelief Conversation Café for our 300th Plurationalist (Interbelief Reasoning) Dialogue by Zoom, “Why Would God Allow Suffering?”

Muslims contend suffering arises naturally, but only indirectly, as one consequence of Allah having created the cosmos and the world through universal natural laws -- but they also contend Allah allows the faithful who die in natural disasters to automatically enter paradise. Some Jews & Christians similarly believe that God created the universe by providing natural laws that inevitably cause a world with natural disasters and suffering, but that the suffering of the faithful can be remediated through either direct (miraculous) intervention in their lives, or through God’s salvation (literally “salvaging” or “saving” in ancient Latin) of their bodies or souls after death.

Biblical-literalist Christians, in contrast, contend that all forms of suffering, including disasters, arise not from God’s creation of natural laws, but from humankind’s partaking of God’s knowledge of good & evil, thereby becoming tempted to act sinfully, for which their initially immortal earthly lives are now expelled from God’s paradise, Eden, only to be regained upon God’s redemption of their souls’ godliness & morality.

Earlier polytheistic religions with either multiple gods, demi-gods, angels, or ascended beings often associated malevolent traits to some of them (e.g., Kali, Maya, Nergal, Angra Mainyu, Lilith, Pazuzu, Lamashtu, Anubis, Set, Ares/Mars, Hades/Pluto, Cerberus, Shaitan or Satan) and beneficent or redemptive traits to others (e.g., Gitche Manitou, Tammuz, Inanna, Ahura Mazda, Vishnu, Krishna, Brahma, Ra, Osiris, Isis, Gaia, Prometheus, Asclepius, Dionysus, Apollo, Mithras), meaning that deities combatted each other – both in the world and within the hearts of human beings – for order or chaos, for light or darkness.

Buddhists and stoics hold that life itself is innately chaotic, involving both desire & suffering, and that mental detachment from both is the true path to personal enlightenment, allowing one to act based on compassion for others.

Pantheists and atheists (non-theistic naturalists) both attribute suffering in natural disasters or disease to the interplay of all natural forces in the universe, including physical entropy and evolution by natural selection. In this worldview, all suffering in life, and freedom from suffering in death, are part of a greater whole.

Atheists and theists who believe in human free will can believe diseases & disasters are natural in origin but that people can (malevolently or ignorantly) choose to cause suffering; whereas atheists and theists who instead believe in determinism -- that there is no such thing as free will -- believe some people's “malevolence“ and “ignorance,“ and others’ “godliness” and “wisdom,” are predetermined and unchangeable.

So, if there were a Sole Creator of Nature – and that Sole Creator was, as Einstein had hoped, more determinative than a very large pair of dice – a fascinating and troubling question then arises,“Why would a Sole Creator of Nature purposefully allow suffering?”

Because that Creator was formerly a member of a Star Trek-like real-life interstellar “Federation” and still obeys its Prime Directive (of cultural non-interference)?

Because that Creator wants beings in the cosmos to believe they have free will, even if they don’t?

Because that Creator wants to create by teaching others to create?

Because that Creator got bored with being all-powerful?

Because that Creator is malevolent himself?

Because that Creator learned that children can grow only by overcoming hurdles?

What do YOU conjecture?

And if YOU were their Creator, is there any possible reason YOU would allow those you created to suffer, especially when you could easily intervene? (Were you raised by “helicopter-parents”?)

At 7-9pm CDT Mon 6/16/25 by Zoom we'll reasoningly share our diverse or even disparate views on how one (including "The One"?) could possibly have a good reason for letting everyone else suffer. Our agreements of open-mindedness, acceptance, curiosity, discovery, sincerity, brevity, & confidentiality should help our reasoning dialogue, at least, not suffer too terribly!