Hasn't Belief in G-d caused as much Evil as Good?

Dear Rabbi,

Turns out that monotheism is a solution to nothing. Before monotheism, we had barbarians. After monotheism, we have barbarians. Monotheistic barbarians.

What's the difference between them and us? We have one G‑d. So do they. We pray to Him three times a day, they do five. We smash idols, so do they. Our goal is for all pagans to perish from the face of the earth; so is theirs.

And here's the scary part: They give up their lives in the name of Allah. Well, what do we have to say about that? We have martyrs galore! Why, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his own son for G‑d's sake. Then there's the story of Chana and her seven sons. We even have a name for it: Kiddush Hashem -- "the sanctification of G‑d's holy name." They say it's the highest level a Jew could reach. And he goes straight to heaven.

Fact is, this wonderful monotheism of yours has made lush forest and pasture into desert, shackled the poor into their poverty, and closed one-fifth of humanity to the advance of humanitarianism. Of the thirty armed conflicts in the world today, Moslems are involved in twenty-eight of them.

So what was the whole point of this one G‑d idea? So that people could get blown up for eating pizza? So that Allah could delight in the smoke of the twin towers? How can you tell me that monotheism is such a great idea, when it brings to such horrifying catastrophe?

The Short Answer:

You're right. Monotheism is a dangerous idea. The most dangerous idea there is, because it leaves no room for anything else. You could destroy the world with this belief.

For this idea to enter our world, another knowledge had to be married to it, a crucial fact about this One G‑d: That He is in love with the world He has made, and especially with the people He has placed upon it.

The Long Answer:

For the "long answer", let me tell you a story from the Holy Zohar, mentioned also in the Midrash Rabbah. A story I call The Aleph Files [to view "The aleph Files" click here]

By Tzvi Freeman

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, also heads our Ask The Rabbi team. He is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of Rabbi Freeman's writing, visit Freeman Files subscription.

More articles by Tzvi Freeman | RSS

The content on this page is copyrighted by the author, publisher and/or Chabad.org, and is produced by Chabad.org. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with the copyright policy.

E-mail

Sort By:

NewestOldest

March 22, 2012

DOUBLE STANDARDS

•Who started the first world war ? …………………..Muslims ?
•Who started the second world war ? ………………..Muslims ?
•Who killed over 6 million Jews in Europe? ………………..Muslims ?
•Who killed about 20 million of Aborigines in Australia ? Muslims ??
•Who sent the nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki ? Muslims ??
•Who killed more than 100 million of Indians in North America ? Muslims ??
•Who killed more than 50 million of Indians in South America ? Muslims ??
•Who took about 180 million of African people as slaves and 88% of them
died and were thrown in Atlantic Ocean ? Muslims??? ?? No , They weren't Muslims!!!
•Who sent aircraft bombers to bomb Iraq and kill for over 10 years …. Muslims???
•Who sent aircraft bombers to bomb Afghanistan and kill for over 10
years …. Muslims???
•Who is using Drone attacks to kill and maim in North Pakistan and
Afghanistan …………. Muslims???
•First of all, You have to define terrorism properly...

Anonymous
Pretoria, South Africa

June 5, 2011

My opinion on this issue..

Is that I have formulated a concept of G-d in my mind that allows me to be at peace with this idea. My concept of G-d is that He is a spirit, an attitude, a feeling, a power within and without me, all that is good, wonderous, amazing, positive and wonderous. I do not, therefore, believe in most of OUR Bible stories, and for sure not in ANY of the Koran's stories which attribute to G-d human feelings, motives or actions. I don't believe it, and therefore, my type of belief in one G-d does NOT equate Him with Evil. On a lighter note, I do sometimes wish He would be my avenger when people are mean to me. Then, by coincidence, if something terrible happens to those people, I don't take delight, but on the other hand, I kind of think G-d heard my prayers. That doesn't mean I would use my belief in Go-d to mow down people who harm me. I think people USE their beliefs to JUSTIFY waging war and terror. That has nothing to do with the real G-d. I know some Muslims who HATE terrorism, btw.

Karen Joyce Chaya Fradle Kleinman Bell
Riverside, CA, USA

August 24, 2009

Simply amazing

Tzvi Freeman always amazes me with his answers and explanations.

Donald
riverside, ca

September 7, 2008

Monotheistic barbarians existed long before Islam. The earliest recorded act of terrorism, and possibly the earliest recorded use of biological warfare, was when Moses used his staff to bring the ten plagues. Subsequently, tactics that would today be considered barbarian were used against the canaanites. You can be critical of Monotheistic barbarianism, but be honest about it. We started it, longer before the Moslems followed our example.

Stephen Weinstein
Camarillo, CA
chabadcamarillo.com

January 16, 2007

Evil as an arguement against G-D

All too often, the evil we humans commit (especially under the pretext of religion) is used as a weapon to disprove G-D's existance. I know this only too well; many folks (mostly youths) I meet in a forum has been using this as one of their main reasons why they don't believe in any religion (G-D's not "hip" nowadays *shakes head*).

What can we say to convince them otherwise? That the human eye cannot say what the Divine sees? "Don't worry, everything will end up well"? That doesn't sound very convincing even to me.

I must say I am rather confused on how we should address this.

Luke Lim
Singapore

August 7, 2006

There are many non believers who say that religion is the cause of the most 'kills' in history, and therefor it can't be good. Back to school; I'd say ... Tthe most "efficient" murders of the 20th century where all commited in the name of secular ideologies (by the likes of Hitler/Stalin/Mao, to name but three), litterally millions!

Rob van Dijk
Amsterdam, Netherlands

August 4, 2006

Men caused evil but not Torah

Concerning our Torah, I would say that, in my opinion, it isn't able to bring chalom in the world without the contribution of man. Torah seems to say it: man has the free will to comply with it or not. The Talmud says that three things need man to pain to be obtained, in which there is Torah. So I think Torah gives the way to bring chalom but it is our part to respect it.
To conclude, if such evil exist in the world, we have the entire responsability to eradicate it.

Levi Itshak
Paris, France

October 12, 2004

Ignorance

I am truly amazed at some of these questions. Dear Rabbi, you have some teaching to do.

Anonymous

August 26, 2004

Flawed logic

Several distinctions exist between martyrdom in the Jewish tradition and martyrdom in the Muslim tradition. First, an integral part of Judaism espouses tolerance and acceptance of other faiths, whereas Muslims have and continue to espouse zero tolerance of other faiths (Mr. Bush no pun intended). Second, we dont seek Martyrdom nor do we superimpose it on others. Lastly, in reality, monotheism has put restraints on human machinations that have lead to rationalization of horrific genocidal acts against humanity (e.g. the former Soviet Union, Nazi Germany).

Yes I do agree that institutionalized religion can be used for the most evil of purposes, and has been used in the past for such. Does that indict the people who use religion as a tool for committing evil or does it indict the religion itself? Monotheism is a belief that has put restraints on evil. We only realize evil when it happens, not when its prevented. There is no telling how much good has come out of monotheism. The bad is only apparent because we tend to overlook the good.

Eli
Milwaukee, WI

August 23, 2004

I don't understand. Part of the question is: " So what was the whole point of this one G-d idea?..... How can you tell me that monotheism is such a great idea, when it brings to such horrifying catastrophe?"

But G-d isn't an idea, good nor bad.

G-d IS.

Anonymous