Brian Victoria
In an increasingly secular world, calling someone or something “evil” will seem to many as an anachronistic label, conjuring up as it does a reddish figure featuring a fiendish face and horns, pitchfork in hand, with wings and a tail. A truly dreadful and fearsome sight indeed!
Christians have traditionally viewed evil as a rebellion against God, embodied in the figure of “Satan” (aka Devil). Satan was identified as the cause of all suffering in the world. Further, it was Satan’s fall from Heaven that illustrated the cosmic battle between good (God) and evil (Satan). As such, Satan existed as a malevolent force outside of ourselves, constantly attempting to entice us to accede to his wicked ways.
By comparison, in contemporary thought, evil is examined through psychological, social, and cultural lenses. Thus, evil can arise from one’s own psychological disorders, group dynamics or the sociopolitical/socioeconomic systems under which we live. No longer is it seen as a metaphysical or malevolent moral force lying outside of ourselves.
