Editing Problem of evil (section)

===Problem of evil and animal suffering===
{{See also|Wild animal suffering|Predation problem|Evolutionary theodicy}}
[[File:Deerfire high res edit.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|[[William L. Rowe]]'s example of [[natural evil]]: "In some distant forest lightning strikes a dead tree, resulting in a forest fire. In the fire a fawn is trapped, horribly burned, and lies in terrible agony for several days before death relieves its suffering."<ref name=rowe336>{{cite journal|last=Rowe|first=William L.|author-link=William L. Rowe|year=1979|title=The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism|journal=American Philosophical Quarterly|volume=16|pages=336–337}}</ref> Rowe also cites the example of human evil where an innocent child is a victim of violence and thereby suffers.<ref name=rowe336/>]]

The problem of evil has also been extended beyond human suffering, to include suffering of animals from cruelty, disease and evil.<ref name=inwagenp120>{{cite book|author=Peter van Inwagen|title=The Problem of Evil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQhUrE8BYFIC |year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-954397-7 |pages=120, 123–126, context: 120–133 }}</ref> One version of this problem includes animal suffering from natural evil, such as the violence and fear faced by animals from predators, natural disasters, over the history of evolution.<ref name=Creeganp44>{{cite book|author=Nicola Hoggard Creegan|title=Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xB1pAgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-993185-9 |pages=44–55}}</ref> This is also referred to as the Darwinian problem of evil,<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael |last=Murray |title=Nature Red in Tooth and Claw: Theism and the Problem of Animal Suffering |url=https://archive.org/details/natureredint_murr_2008_000_9051094 |url-access=registration |year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press  |isbn=978-0-19-155327-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/natureredint_murr_2008_000_9051094/page/n19 8]}}</ref><ref name=almeidap193/> after [[Charles Darwin]] who wrote in 1856: "What a book a Devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low & horridly cruel works of nature!", and in his later autobiography said: "A being so powerful and so full of knowledge as a God who could create the universe, is to our finite minds omnipotent and omniscient, and it revolts our understanding to suppose that his benevolence is not unbounded, for what advantage can there be in the sufferings of millions of the lower animals throughout almost endless time? This very old argument from the existence of suffering against the existence of an intelligent first cause seems to me a strong one".<ref name="Murray2008">{{cite book|first=Michael |last=Murray |title=Nature Red in Tooth and Claw: Theism and the Problem of Animal Suffering |url=https://archive.org/details/natureredint_murr_2008_000_9051094 |url-access=registration |year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press  |isbn=978-0-19-155327-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/natureredint_murr_2008_000_9051094/page/n13 2]}}, cites letter to J. D. Hooker (Darwin Correspondence Project, "Letter no. 1924," accessed on 9 May 2021, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-1924.xml)</ref><ref name="CD bio90">{{cite book |last= Darwin |first= Charles |year = 1958  |editor-last  = Barlow |editor-first = Nora |editor-link  = Nora Barlow |title = The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882. With the original omissions restored. Edited and with appendix and notes by his granddaughter Nora Barlow  |url = http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=1&itemID=F1497&viewtype=text |location= London |publisher = Collins |page=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=92&itemID=F1497&viewtype=text 90] |access-date=2021-05-09|website=darwin-online.org.uk}}</ref>

The second version of the problem of evil applied to animals, and avoidable suffering experienced by them, is one caused by some human beings, such as from animal cruelty or when they are shot or slaughtered. This version of the problem of evil has been used by scholars including [[John Hick]] to counter the responses and defenses to the problem of evil such as suffering being a means to perfect the morals and greater good because animals are innocent, helpless, amoral but sentient victims.<ref name=inwagenp120/><ref>{{cite book|first=Diogenes |last=Allen |editor=Marilyn McCord Adams and Robert Merrihew Adams|title=The Problem of Evil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqNwUSj7U7QC |year=1990|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-824866-8 |pages=204–206 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=William L.|last=Rowe|title=William L. Rowe on Philosophy of Religion: Selected Writings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4GdWhLtZzAC&pg=PA61 |year=2007|publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-0-7546-5558-9 |pages=61–64 (the fawn's suffering example) }}</ref> Scholar Michael Almeida said this was "perhaps the most serious and difficult" version of the problem of evil.<ref name=almeidap193>{{cite book|first=Michael J.|last=Almeida|title=Freedom, God, and Worlds|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chSSBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-964002-7 |pages=193–194 }}</ref> The problem of evil in the context of animal suffering, states Almeida, can be stated as:<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael J.|last=Almeida|title=Freedom, God, and Worlds|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chSSBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-964002-7 |pages=194–195, for the complete context and alternate formulations see pp. 194–217 }}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|Nicola Creegan has presented the logical and evidential versions of the problem of evil when applied to animal suffering.<ref name=Creeganp44/>}}

# God is omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good.
# The evil of extensive animal suffering exists.
# Necessarily, God can actualize an evolutionary perfect world.
# Necessarily, God can actualize an evolutionary perfect world only if God does actualize an evolutionary perfect world.
# Necessarily, God actualized an evolutionary perfect world.
# If #1 is true then either #2 or #5 is true, but not both. This is a contradiction, so #1 is not true.