The free will defence

• For humans to be entirely free, God cannot intervene in the world. If he acted to stop evil, he would jeopardise human freedom
• Alvin Plantinga 


  Freedom is so valuable it is worth human suffering
• Scholars

  Augustine (C13th), Swinburne (C20th), Kierkegaard (C19th) and Plantinga (C20th)
• God cannot act outside the realms of logical possibility, it would be impossible to create a world where humans have free will and would always chose to do the good.
• Swinburne - "The less God allows men to bring about large-scale horrors, the less freedom and responsibility he gives them"
• Swinburne offers an account of one natural evil - death.
• For humans to be free and have total freewill, God cannot intervene in the world
• Our lifetimes are limited and so we have genuine responsibility for our actions. If we were immoral and had infinite chances to do the right thing, we would not take responsibility and choose good. Death also puts a limit on suffering, it shows God is not cruel, he has mercy and allows people to escape suffering when they die
• Strengths of the Freewill Defence

  Offers a logical explanation for evil, by removing the blame of the existence of evil from God and putting it onto humankind
• Strengths of the Freewill Defence

  The defence explains how God can remain omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent whilst evil exists
• Strengths of the Freewill Defence

  Encourages 'development' of human character which is morally desirable. The Defence wants humans to learn from their mistakes in their limited earthly lives. Learning from our mistakes helps us be better people and to limit evil and suffering
• Strengths of the Freewill Defence

  Swinburne explains why God does not stop suffering, because he values human freedom he created
• Weaknesses of the Freewill Defence

  Peter Vardy does not believe it gives an adequate explanation for natural evil. Many examples of natural evil do not have a greater good behind them
• Weaknesses of the Freewill Defence

  Disasters such as floods and disease appear to have no human cause for example
• Weaknesses of the Freewill Defence

  William Rowe's evidential problem of evil is not solved by the FWD: Why does there have to be so much evil? Why do people have to suffer so badly as part of God's plan?
• Weaknesses of the Freewill Defence

  J.L Mackie argues that as God is omnipotent he could have created humans with emotional intelligence to always choose the good action, so stopping human suffering
• Weaknesses of the Freewill Defence

  A group of philosophers called the Determinists argue that freedom is an illusion so the FWD is built on an incorrect principle - no choice is fully free because all choices come from a prior cause, like a chain reaction. This cause is believed to be God, who allowed for evil to come into the world.