The confession is that, with the exception of a few times when I led the service, I have not attended church for a full year. Partly it's because I moved, leaving behind what was both a community and a congregation (and it's my former church that I occasionally returned to as a preacher.  I don't yet feel any such sense of community where I now live. But that's not the whole story.

Have you ever thought about the possibility that they don't exist?

I know that there are people across the world who are evil (but I can say that in my life I have not met many)

There are also ill people who do evil things. But does that make them evil? ( If so, I have met many in my life).

So when does ill become evil?

Just pondering after the shooting at Fort Bragg.

I think Gambling is bad. However on a small scale it is not that bad but on a large scale it produces a lot of suffering.

The UCC has a policy on Gambling which supports a boycott of  funds generated from gambling, like the trillium fund. However in effect the church only boycotts gambling funds that come from government run casinos and lotteries. (Small scale gambling)

(From The United Church http://www.united-church.ca/economic/gambling)

Traditional reasons for opposition to gambling include the following:

Couldn't the Devil in the Jewish-Christian tradition be nothing more (or less) than the human ego, and sin nothing more (or less) than the fruit of a life centered on that ego?  

Is this just a "liberal" view or are their "conservatives" who view the Devil and sin this way as well?

How do we feed and nurture evil? Or maybe the question should be, why do we feed and nurture evil? What is in the human physche that stops  us from confronting evil in its tracks ? I would like to hear your responses.

In the first account of creation we are told that the heavens and the earth all come from God.  We are also told that all which was created was seen as being good, even very good.

So where did evil come from?

Was evil there before teh "beginning of the beginning"?  Was evil part of the "us" the story mentions when humanity are created (men and women at the same time in this story)?  Is evil in fact part of God?  OR part of the creattion that is called good?

Hi everyone. I am Catholic and this is my view on why evil exists in our world. Comments/support/criticism is welcome.

EDIT: Thanks to someone in the discussion below, I've decided to make the subject of this post a bit more clear. This post addresses the question "If God exists, then why is there evil?"