The concept of evil is one that has intrigued me for some time. The word ‘evil’ falls into that category of words that are often invoked but generally plagued by ambiguity or even misuse. What do we mean when we call someone or something evil? Is evil a trait, a character flaw? Or is it a distinct entity or force, something that possesses or animates someone to be evil? Is there an ‘evil one’ that seeks to turn people into ‘evildoers’? Or is evil simply a way of classifying acts or deeds or intentions that go against societal norms or morality? Can something be ‘definitively’ evil?
Evil is both a noun and an adjective. Its definition is ‘profound immorality and wickedness’, or ‘profoundly immoral or wicked’. But like so many other definitions, this one relies on other fairly complex definitions – those of morality and wickedness. And as I have argued in the past, these concepts are difficult to pin down. One person’s immoral act is another’s heroic act in many cases.
There are some acts that seem to fully deserve to be termed evil in all cases. I would call rape evil under any circumstance. Murder, when done out of hatred or anger, or for material gain, is also evil. A person who robs and murders someone on the street is definitely committing an evil act.
But is murder for a cause evil? General Curtis Lemay ordered the napalm bombing of Tokyo, which resulted in the death of about 100,000 Japanese, expressly for the purpose of killing massive numbers of civilians in WW2. Was that evil? Was it any less evil than Osama bin Laden ordering the twin towers attack of 9/11/2001? Both men believed they were serving a higher cause and sacrificing people for a perceived greater good.
Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an ‘Evil Empire’ in 1983, and George Bush later coined the term ‘Axis of Evil’ to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea in 2002. Did these men truly believe that the force of evil or the devil himself was acting on these nations and their leaders, or were they simply employing the terms for political expediency?
We have a long history in the USA of believing that we are a holy nation and a chosen people, carrying the torch of morality and piety in a world that is growing dark with secularism and immorality. Yet there are numerous examples of deeds and events in our past that could qualify as evil and that had horrific consequences. Does it really make any sense to label a government or nation evil? Isn’t most of humanity searching for the right path but simply making errors along the way?
On an individual level, we see some people who do incredibly wicked things – serial killers, rapists, gang-bangers, child molesters, etc. One does not hesitate to call them evil and certainly they deserve the label. Are these people under the control of some evil force or ‘devil’, or are they simply mentally deranged in some manner? Are their heinous acts the consequence of some genetic defect, the result of a brutal or perverse childhood, or some combination of the two?
If we try to understand depravity in terms of environmental factors some will accuse us of moral relativism. But attempting to understand the nature of psychotic or anti-social behavior is not a way of rationalizing or condoning it, but rather a means of gaining better insight into how to prevent such behavior in the future.
There are aspects of human nature that make all of us susceptible to anti-social behavior or acts – avarice, sexual drive, envy, anger, pride. Every human being must balance their natural impulses, desires and needs with the constraints of society by developing a conscience with a moral and ethical framework. Whether this conscience or moral integrity is linked to a higher power is a question one cannot answer definitively, though I do believe we have some evidence to support this idea.
I do not believe there is a ‘devil’ or some external evil force that is vying for our allegiance. There is no Mephistopheles exhorting us to perform evil deeds in one ear while angelic beings whisper kindhearted suggestions in the other. There is evil in the world – wicked and immoral acts – but they are the expression of broken human beings and a broken world, not of some supernatural malevolent power.
