God Must Be Evil (If It Exists)

Vexen Crabtree

There is more evidence that God is evil than that God is good.

1. God Must Be Evil

1. The Existence of Suffering
2. The Dominance of Death in
Nature
3. Genetic Diseases and
Unintelligent Design
4. God, Free Will and Morality
5. God Does Not Prevent Suffering
2. What Would an Evil God Do?
1. The Evil God Says It Loves You!
2. An Evil God Would Make
Heaven Hard to Get To
3. An Evil God Would Create Conflicting Religions
4. An Evil God Causes Confusion and Hides Itself
5. Genetic Diseases
6. Mark Twain's Diatribe
3. What Would Vexen Do If He was God?
4. Good and Evil: What if We Can't Tell the Difference?
1. Pascal's Wager is Safer in Reverse
2. Homocentricity / Anthropocentrism
5. Conclusion
6. Links

1. God Must Be Evil

1.1. The Existence of Suffering

If God was all-powerful and all-loving, with free will yet perfectly good,
God would create life with similar properties: with free will and perfectly
good. Meaning that there would be no human-created evil, and no need for
evil, suffering or death in the world in any way. However, there is evil and
death in very great quantities, therefore it holds that if the situation was
created by a god then such a god is not omnipotent and benevolent. Given
that such a god exists, it must be malevolent: An evil god, who created life
for the sole purpose of watching life suffer.

Such a god would make life, in its very essence, impossible to exist without
death, violence, suffering and struggle. Advanced life, especially, would be
inherently prone to nastiness, wars, immorality, killing and causing of
suffering. As this is how it is in the world, it holds that the existence of such
levels of suffering, if it is the result of intelligent design, is thoroughly evil,
and to call god "good" is a corruption of the truth.

As it happens, the world is as we would expect it to be if the designer of life

was evil. Ancient religious minds also realized this. Gnostic religions such
as the Manicheans explained that this world was the creation of an evil
God, and that we had to somehow escape from it. Some people criticize
this, asking, if the world was designed by an evil God, why is there some
happiness and goodness in the world? Why isn't the world purely evil, with
only suffering?

“A Manichean might retort that this is the worst of all possible worlds,
in which the good things that exist serve only to heighten the evils. The
world, he might say, was created by a wicked demiurge [who] created
some virtuous men, in order that they might be punished by the wicked;
for the punishment of the virtuous is so great an evil that it makes the
world worse than if no good men existed.”

"History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell (1946)

“Look around this universe. What an immense profusion of beings

animated and organized, sensible and active!... But inspect a little more
narrowly these living essences... How hostile and destructive to each
other! How insufficient all of them for their own happiness!”
 David Hume

1.2. The Dominance of Death in Nature

The main piece of evidence here is

biological matter and the food chain.
All life dies - all biological life decays,
erodes, fades, becomes diseased and ill
if it does not sustain itself. To sustain
itself nearly all life, except the least
living elements of life, kills and eats
other life. If not this, then it consumes
biological matter at the expense of
other living beings; the fight for food is
also a case of living beings being
“A god could not have created a more
required to outdo each other merely to
vicious cycle if it tried: Tying the very
survive. existence of life with the necessary killing
of other life is the work of an evil genius,
If life was created, and not simply the not of an all-powerful and all-loving

result of undirected unconscious god. ”

evolution (as seems sensible), this is -- Vexen Crabtree

surely the worst possible way to have created life. It appears very much
that life cannot survive without causing suffering for other life. A god could
not have created a more vicious cycle if it tried: Tying the very existence of
life with the necessary killing of other life is the work of an evil genius, not
of an all-powerful and all-loving god, that could choose if it wanted to
sustain all life immediately and forever with manna from heaven. But it
seems such an all-powerful good god doesn't exist.

Satanism is about reality. In reality, all living beings die. There are no
exceptions. Satanism, in embracing life and indulgence, is in effect
striving against death. However, it is inevitable that death will
eventually win. Satan, representing reality and the Human condition,
symbolizes the victory of death. This eternal truth is more meaningful
 and potent than deceitful symbols of life, of reincarnation and of other
spiritual pipe dreams.”

"Satan is Death: 1. Satan Represents Death" by Vexen Crabtree (2003)

Sensible refrain:
Life exists as a precarious balance of self-replicating chemicals, and such a
balancing game is always bound to be temporary, pending major
technological discoveries or serious and continuous genetic engineering.
That such extreme measures have to be taken to prolong life is evidence to
the fact that life is incidental to the universe, a by-product that exists due
purely due to statistical likelihood, and that life is temporary is because all
the physical constructs of the universe are temporary. However, if a deity
was believed in, it would be sensible to assume that it was evil and created
life as such a disharmony in order to cause the suffering and pain of living
beings.

1.3. Genetic Diseases and Unintelligent Design

Christian doctrine holds that mankind suffers because of sin, which we

choose as a result of free will. Without free will there would be no sin, and
therefore no suffering. But it is obvious that a great number of the genetic
diseases reviewed above on this page are inherited from the moment of
conception, and therefore are nothing to do with choice or character. Not
only that, but genetic diseases affect all species, although, as a result of
mankind's increasing lifespan, many diseases have come to fore in
humankind due to senescence. It is possible to construct evolutionary trees
tracing the history of a faulty inherited gene through species by looking at
which species emerged from what predecessors (phylostratigraphy), and
through other genetic techniques. Many faulty genes that afflict mankind
originated in previous species that existed before humankind emerged,
therefore, it is a logical impossibility that the existence of mutations and
diseases are a result of human sin. In other words, the suffering that results
from genetic diseases has affected all species throughout the history of life,
and is part of the fundamental process of evolution. It has been noted that
this is a hefty piece of evidence that if there is a god, it isn't the good-
natured creator that traditional religions believe in. [...]

Genetic diseases afflict not only mankind, but also all other animal species,
and all other forms of life down to the simplest bacteria and harmless
single-cell lifeforms floating in the oceans. In all these species and in plants
there are seemingly endless cases of genetic flaws and problems. Perhaps
the best indicator of how badly life is 'designed' is the stark reality that 99%
of all species have gone extinct. The food chain requires that nearly every
living being survives by killing other creatures to eat for food, and species
naturally expand to use up all local resources, limiting the success of other
species. Everywhere in nature, predator-and-prey chains are central to life.
This isn't a design for life, but a design of strife and violence. The genetic
defects of nature, and the violence and strife of the natural world, indicate
that life was not designed by a good-natured creator god but maybe by an
evil one. My favourite phrase to describe all of this waste and bad design is
one I picked up from Paul Kurtz in the Skeptical Inquirer:

“The existence of vestigial organs in many species, including the human

species, is hardly evidence for design; for they have no discernable
function. And the extinction of millions of species on the planet is
perhaps evidence for unintelligent design.”

Paul Kurtz (2006)

1.4. God, Free Will and Morality

It seems to be logically impossible for a good god to exist. Imagine the case
of a perfectly good god. It could not be immoral even if it tried. Whatever it
done would work the maximum amount of good because god's actions
would be the definition of perfectly good. God has no choice in this matter -
it is perfect, and there's nothing it can do about it! A being with no choice is
not a moral agent. It is the same situation if God is only capable of doing
good things, even if it could do bad things. In both cases it appears that
God does not have a choice in its own morality. This makes God amoral,
and not morally good, in the same way that any automaton with no moral
free will is neither "moral" or "immoral", but amoral, as a computer is
neither moral or immoral even if we program it to always do the right
thing. Because there is no free will, there is no way to assert that God is
moral.

That "God is Good" is a common assumption made by theists yet God

could exist and be neutral (amoral) or malevolent (evil and immoral).
But it cannot be "morally good". It if it perfectly good then it always
makes the most perfect choices and therefore has no free will. A being
with no free will cannot be morally good as it makes no moral choices; it
can only be morally neutral like a robot. Also, if God's actions and
wishes are automatically good by definition, then its morality is
arbitrary and we ourselves have no moral reason to follow it, and may
do so only out of fear of the consequences or of selfish want of reward.
If God's actions are not by definition good, then, there must be an
independent source of the definition of goodness. If God has always
been good then God can't have been the creator of goodness; yet if it
wasn't, then what was? The idea of a good god causes contradictions. If
you do not accept purely logical, philosophical or theological arguments
that god cannot be benevolent, then, the real-world existence of evil and
suffering (of babies, etc) is also evidence that the world was not created
by a perfectly good god. Natural disasters such as earthquakes and
volcanoes appear to be universal and not linked to Human free will, yet
they cause much destruction. It seems that morality and God are
contradictory. God cannot be the author of morality nor can it itself be
moral.”

"God and Goodness: Can a Perfectly Good God Exist? Is God Love?: 7.
Conclusions" by Vexen Crabtree (1999)

That the idea of a perfectly good god contradicts itself means that it is
impossible for a good god to exist. An amoral or immoral one could still
exist. The evidence on this page on suffering, pain and the unsuitability of
the universe for peaceful life is rather a big hint, however, that God is not
amoral, but is actually immoral and sadistically evil. Of course it is
completely more obviously the case that there isn't a god of any kind, but if
there was one, it wouldn't make sense to call it "moral", it'd have to amoral
at best.

1.5. God Does Not Prevent Suffering

Unhindered natural evil

God could act to prevent all natural disasters, fires, earthquakes, radiation
and accidental mishaps from afflicting pregnant women, young children,
babies and innocent people. That God doesn't do this is a clear indicator
that it doesn't want to do it - because it sees nothing wrong with our
suffering. This is not a moral God, who can just sit around and do nothing
all day whilst creation suffers in the hands of the stray photon particles
God left laying around in their billions! God could prevent all background
radiation from harming people... but it doesn't.

Heaven
Whether people deserve it or not, a good God would elevate everyone to
heaven immediately. Good and bad, moral and immoral... once in heaven
where there is no evil and no suffering, even bad people only do good
things. If God is forgiving or loving (or exists...) then it would automatically
and instantaneously place everyone in heaven. Why doesn't God do this?
Because god is neither all-loving or forgiving! Life is a game intended to
draw out peoples' lives as much as possible, making them endure the
maximum amount of pain that is logically possible... because God, if there
is one, is utterly evil.

2. What Would an Evil God Do?

2.1. The Evil God Says It Loves You!

If God was evil, it would definitely convince the weak-minded amongst us

that it loves them. That's exactly what an evil God would do! In fact, it
would make believing that this is true as one of the cornerstones of its
teachings! Like the totalitarian government of George Orwell's 1984, like
the Fascist governments of history, and like the leadership of every
inhuman cult leader: once the followers believe that the figurehead loves
them, they'll bend to his will! A pure evil God would boast about love,
forgiveness, and compassion! And, being very powerful, an evil God would
be convincing, too.

2.2. An Evil God Would Make Heaven Hard to Get

To

An evil God would create a beautiful, perfect, fabulous heaven, and then
not let anyone go there. It would tell people about heaven, and tell people
that they can get there, and even show some people what heaven is like.
But in reality there would only be hell and eternal suffering. It might even
create human forms (Jesus, Muhammad, etc) and go around preaching
about heaven, in order to tease Humanity even more, and increase our
suffering.

A good god would, obviously, put everyone in heaven immediately,

whether they deserved it or not. So an evil god would have to invent
reasons why it couldn't do this, so that people wouldn't realize it was an
evil god. If a god was particularly evil, it could even tell people that they
have to believe these reasons in order to get into Heaven! That would be a
perfect circular argument, augmented by the emotional and selfish wants
of people who want eternal bliss! A perfect deception!

2.3. An Evil God Would Create Conflicting

Religions

#evil_god #religions #religious_violence #sectarianism #theodicy

Religions that fight each other tend to make their adherents believe in
them even more strongly. Group solidarity comes into effect: when you
have enemies, you keep a closer grip on your friends and also reinforce
your own group identity. So, an evil God would appear to mankind in a
variety of guises and preach a number of powerful, but conflicting,
religions. It would therefore create maximum confusion, and maximum
suffering, through war and intolerance. It would preach to each religion
that its followers were right and other followers were wrong! These groups
would all wholeheartedly believe that as God (or, the gods) has revealed the
truth to them, other religions must be wrong and ungodly. That way, most
of the weak, inferior, pathetic people that the evil god creates would fall
foul of one religion or another, and be duped! Once duped, they'd cling to
the lies even more the stronger because of the existence of competing
religions. An evil God, indeed, would do this, and this is exactly the state
the world is in. Coincidence? If there is a God, it is surely evil!

"Fundamentalism" by Malise Ruthven (2007) has the author state that for
the secular non-believer, the warring of fundamentalist groups is proof that
god is "if not downright evil, a demonic power who delights in setting
humans at each other's throats". Too right!

2.4. An Evil God Causes Confusion and Hides Itself

If we knew the truth, our existential crises, mental angst and warring world
religions would have no grounds to vex. If god revealed itself to everyone,
in no unclear terms, there could be no disagreement. But god does not do
this. God remains hidden - and if god is the source of any of our world
religions, it seems that it is intentionally giving conflicting messages.
Saying one set of things to one group of people; appearing as a multitude of
gods to others, and appearing not at all to many. These appear to be the
tactics not of a god that wants us to understand and unite, but of one that
actively encourages division, war, conflict, confusion and stress.

Sensible refrain:
Such a god remains 'hidden' because actually it doesn't exist. Experiences
of god and experiences of other spiritual things are mistakes, ego-
projections, psychology and misleading experiences which nonetheless
appear true to those that have them and are even partially a side product of
the way we've evolved. However, if there is a god and it intentionally hides
and spreads confusion and disagreement about its own nature, then it is
not a truthful, good-natured god but one that prefers conflict.
2.5. Genetic Diseases

Evolution has stumbled down many confused and unfortunate alleys and
left much of the biological world with a legacy of problems that could easily
have been averted with some foresight. I discuss much of this in "Evolution
and the Unintelligent Design of Life: Inherited Traits, Genetic
Dysfunction and Artificial Life" by Vexen Crabtree (2007) but there is one
particular type of genetic disease that is relevant here: those that show an
advantage in their heterozygote form, but are lethal in a double dose:

The way genetics works, some genes have terrible effects only when
inherited from both parents. This means that the gene can be successful
and get passed on from generation to generation, but, it occasionally
wreaks havoc on a baby or child. It is very unfortunate that this type of
gene exists, but, thankfully the march of evolution means that most
dysfunctional genes are eventually removed from the gene pool because
they reduce the average viability of offspring. It would be so much
better if evolution could see what it was doing, because there is an
unfortunate twist. Some of these terrible diseases, which only strike
families occasionally, have an advantage when they're not showing
their ugly side. This is known as "heterozygote advantage". Examples of
this type of disease include sickle-cell anaemia. This disease is spread
because in its hidden, harmless form it gives an advantage against
malaria. Likewise, cystic fibrosis is believed to give protection against
cholera, and the terrible neurodegenerative tay-sachs disease linked
with protection against tuberculosis. Due to the advantage of having
these genes in their heterozygote form they spread, but, this means that
the terrible diseases caused by them occasionally afflict unborn babies
and the very young.”

"What the Worst and Most Horrible Genetic Diseases?: 2. Genetic

Diseases With Heterozygote Advantage" by Vexen Crabtree (2016)

If I was an evil architect who wanted to create a species that would suffer
needlessly, then, I would design evolution in such a way that terrible
diseases were hidden by genes that conferred an advantage and therefore
spread well in the population. If I was a good designer, I wouldn't create
genetic diseases at all. Which way does the evidence point? The existence
of genetic diseases with heterozygous advantage is evidence that, if there is
a creator, or a designer of evolution, such a being is either malevolent or a
very poor geneticist.

2.6. Mark Twain's Diatribe

“...a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred
to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet
never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life,
yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness
unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels
painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and
maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell--
mouths mercy, and invented hell--mouths Golden Rules and
forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who
mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon
crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then
tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of
honourably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with
altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship
him!”

Mark Twain

3. What Would Vexen Do If He was God?

Full page: "If I was God, What Would I Do?" by
Vexen Crabtree (2005)

Vexen would put everyone in heaven

Vexen would eradicate evil
Vexen would not create people who will sin
 Vexen would cancel all religion
Vexen would dispense with the food chain: All beings to be fed with
manna from Heaven

Why doesn't God do these things? And just as importantly... why did
God create evil, suffering, sin and the food chain in the first place?
There are two possibilities to explain God's confusing choices: God
Doesn't Exist or God is Evil. People who believe that a god exists should
probably spend more time wondering whether their God is really the
good guy or not! Maybe if everyone believed in Vexenism, the world
would be a better place!”

"If I was God, What Would I Do?: 2. So Why Doesn't God Do These
Things? Is God Evil?"
Vexen Crabtree (2005)

4. Good and Evil: What if We Can't Tell the

Difference?
4.1. Pascal's Wager is Safer in Reverse

#atheism #christianity #god #islam #religion #theism

We couldn't tell from its appearance or character if a god, or a powerful

spirit, was actually good or evil. Deceiving us mortals would be easy.

“Any powerful spirit can pretend to “Dear friends, do not believe every
be good. Even a being of complete spirit, but test the spirits to see whether
evil, like Satan in the Christian they are from God, because many false

Bible, is said to be able to appear 'as prophets have gone out into the world. ”
1 John 4:1
an angel of light' (2 Cor. 11:14). And
in Islam, the Satanic verses were “Satan himself masquerades as an
sneaked into the Qur'an by the angel of light. ”

devil, without Muhammad noticing 2 Cor. 11:14

 that they were from the most evil being rather than angel Gabriel. That
a being of complete evil can hide its true nature and appear as good is a
genuine warning from world religions; how much easier must it be for
lesser demons and naughty spirits to hide their lesser quantities of evil
(e.g. 1 John 4:1). Some groups of early Christians thought that the entire
Old Testament was written by an interloper; an evil god, that ought to
be overthrown. Such dualistic battles are common in gnostic and
mystery religions. We poor Human beings have little chance of
determining who are the good, and who are the bad, in the world of
gods, angels, demons and spirits.”

"Pascal's Wager is Safer in Reverse: Picking a Religion is Dangerous

Business: 1.1. The Devil as an Angel of Light, and the Satanic Verses"
by Vexen Crabtree (2010)

One argument is that we should assume the existence of a good god. But
even from within the standpoint of traditional religion, this fails as a tactic.

Pascal's Wager is a rhetorical argument proposed by Christians against

atheists, and holds that it is 'safer' to believe in God because if you're
wrong, you don't lose anything, but if you disbelieve then you could end
up foregoing the benefits of heaven. It is a very common argument. But
here are five reasons to turn this argument on its head, and reject God
and religion: (1) As God has historically served as a force for evil and it
seems that any demon could very easily trick us into thinking that it is
God, we must reject all feelings and thoughts from God for fear of us
being deluded into committing yet more misdemeanours. (2) The major
monotheistic religions hold that idolatry is a serious sin so it is safer to
accept no god rather than risk accepting the incorrect one. (3) The
major monotheistic religions hold that having the correct beliefs is so
important that having the wrong ones is normally punished with
particular glee; it is safer to remain doubtful than to commit to the
wrong set of beliefs. (4) The goal of reaching heaven is a selfish motive
so probably won't get you there. (5) A good and benevolent god judges
 us according to our choices and moral actions in life, not according to
the religions we happen to be born with, or convert to, given that our
choices are based on incomplete and subjectively interpreted evidence.
If God is just then our chosen religion and incidental beliefs are
irrelevant to it. In conclusion: it is much safer for yourself and for
society to not pick a religion and to not believe in any particular god.”

"Pascal's Wager is Safer in Reverse: Picking a Religion is Dangerous

Business" by Vexen Crabtree (2010)

So even if we fail to find evidence for a good god, or an evil one, or any god
at all, it is safer to avoid the concept of God and not to commit to it. If God
is good, it will understand that we are concerned that powerful demons
might masquerade as angels of light - as it says in the Bible for example. If
God is evil, we didn't want to commit to it anyway. And if there isn't a god,
as least we successfully made a sensible assumption based on the evidence.

4.2. Homocentricity / Anthropocentrism

There is one potential flaw behind the arguments for the existence of a God
that is either moral or immoral: It assumes that the suffering of Humanity
and life on Earth is relevant to the intentions of that god. Life could merely
be a by-product, a means to an end, and therefore suffering is completely
irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. This points to the existence of a
neutral god, if we speak in absolute terms. However this argument against
giving moral labels to god fails. Firstly, we are not speaking in absolute
terms, we are specifically speaking from our own point of view and from
the point of view of living beings. So, in the English language, according to
Human Beings, if there is a God the evidence suggests we are justified in
calling it evil. Secondly, although from its own point of view, it may not see
itself as evil because our suffering is irrelevant to its plan, from our point of
view the suffering we endure is an overridingly important oversight. So
much so that the creator of the universe is revealed to be morally flawed; or
in other words: to be evil. So call it evil, we will, and likewise, if we choose
to uphold a symbolic figurehead as representative of reality, that figure
must be the evil one of Satan.

5. Conclusion
The existence of such large quantities of suffering, despair, pain, of natural
disasters such as earthquakes, of the death of the unborn and the immense
suffering of lovers & kind-hearted people means that god is evil and
intentionally creates life in order to create suffering. That all life exists in a
food chain means that life is completely tied to death, and such a barbaric
biological cycle could only have been made by an evil god. Also, that such a
god appears not to exist, or actively hides itself, is a source of confusion,
conflict, war and stress and is again more likely the antics of an evil god.
Given the state of the natural world, it is impossible that a good god exists.
It is more likely that an evil god exists, but, it is sensible to assume that
there is no god of either type. Even if there is not a god of either type, as the
dominance of death and violence in the natural world, a result of nature
being abused by life and not being designed for life, I think the evil symbol
of Satan is the best representative of the state of reality and the universe,
whether or not an actual evil god exists.

If God did exist and was evil, it would undoubtedly lie and tell everyone it
was a good god and that it loved them. It would create maximum confusion
by preaching multiple conflicting religions. It would create heaven and
make it hard to get to in order to tease and torture people into making their
own lives hell. As all of those things happen, if there is a God, it is doing the
things an evil God would do!

Once I recognized and accepted this state of affairs and adequately called
myself a Satanist, I could concentrate my life on happiness, love, stability
and peace. Because I know and understand that death always wins, that life
is temporary, I waste no time on short-term whims that reduce my quality
of life, or of those around me, and I waste no time with spiritual pipe
dreams. Recognizing Satan as the personified meta-figure of reality is self-
affirming, life-affirming, positive, honest and clarifying.

Accepting Satan/Death Is vitalizing