Plato argues that there is no Evil, what we see as evil is just ignorance; what everyone wants “the good”.

Genesis speaks of Adam and Eve being cast from the Garden of Eden because they “ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Evil must therefore be something related to humanity in its current state.

The Bible considers sin as a break in the covenant between man and God. The Koran considers sin to be against the sinner himself. Sin, for purposes of this discussion may be evil, but is not necessarily so.

There are those that find anything that varies from their “normal” is evil: unapproved sexual practices, other religions, disobeying rules within their ethic system, etc. For purposes of our discussion, let us consider only those things that are morally bad, intrinsically corrupt, wantonly destructive, inhumane, or wicked in the abstract.

I propose that we consider Evil not to be terrible acts, but the principles and conditions that lead to destructive behaviors that make the world a poorer and meaner place to live.

I will be writing and revising essays on the following that are proposed for your consideration as Evil:

This list is subject to revision, and the definitions we want to use may not be the common usage. Please comment and add your views. Perhaps at this site we can come to a “generally accepted” definition of evil.

Fundamentalism –

1. Led by authoritarian males who consider themselves superior to others, and in religious groups subjugate women and dominate their fellow believers.
2. Leaders retain self-beneficial aspects of their historic beliefs and of the modern world.
3. Draws distinction between themselves as true believers, and others; convinced that they are right and anyone who contradicts them is ignorant and possibly evil.
4. Is militant and fights against any challenge to their beliefs. They are often angry and sometimes resort to verbal or physical abuse against those who interfere with their agenda
5. Self-definition is increasingly narrow and restricted to isolate themselves, to demagogue emotional issues and view change, cooperations, negotiation and other efforts to resolve differences as signs of weakness

(Jimmy Carter in Our Endangered Values : America\’s Moral Crisis)

Another characteristic of fundamentalism is that issues are distilled to binary values, there are no shades of grey: Your are either with us, or against us.

Fundamentalism is Evil

(Is this a fundamentalist statement?)

Major fundamentalists are:

• Adolph Hitler – leader of the Positive Christianity Nazi Party
• Tomás de Torquemada – Spanish Inquisition
• Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini – Leader of Shiite Islam and Iran
• David Koresh – leader of the Branch Davidians
• Jim Jones – leader of Jonestown
• Josef Stalin– leader of “godless” USSR
• Osama Bin Laden – leader of Al Qaeda
• George W. Bush ? – leader of Christian USA