religion essay

Theodicy is philosophic and religious term first introduced by German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz in his work Théodicéé. The main purpose of theodicy is to resolve the problem of evil in the world. Simplified, theodicy regards the definition of the evil. Theodicy seeks for the answers that should reveal the reasons why some evil happened in the world. The main problem is however, the obvious presence of evil in the world versus omnipotence of God. The inconsistency of God is by some authors to be blamed for presence of evil. According to theodicy theory, it should contain the following three requirements: common sense view of the world, opinions confirmed at the grounds of science and trustworthy ethical principles.
One typical example of extraordinary evil in modern world is a series of terrorist attacks that have been happening since the beginning of last decade. Terrorist bombing took away many people’s lives and cause big suffering to their beloved ones. The terrorists have been making these attacks in the name of their God and religion. In this particular case, Islamic religion is exposed to critics since the violence should not be the means of God, since God in each monotheistic religion depicts overall good. If Allah is good and omnipotent, why does he allow this extraordinary evil? The main problem seems to be the interpretation of Qur’an. The different interpretations brought up many aspects and explanations; therefore, the justification for acts of evil such is aforementioned terrorist bombing.
Moreover, theodicy is stronger linked monotheistic religion forms, than to pluralistic, for instance. The reason thereby is that in monotheistic religions one God is the creator of everything, and he puts people on various temptations. The presence of evil is temptation for believers: If one passes this particular test, his has a strong a will and he deserves the afterlife in heaven. So, within the monotheistic religions, one is asked to continue his faith