Q&A: The Holocaust
The Holocaust
Question
Stopping believing in God because of the Holocaust is not a naturalistic fallacy.
Answer
No. It is like condemning hitting because it hurts. The pain is a fact, and the condemnation is a judgment. But there is a hidden assumption that whatever hurts is wrong; it is just not stated explicitly.
In the same way, stopping believing because of the Holocaust is a more complex argument that says: 1. God is good. 2. The Holocaust is evil. 3. God caused the Holocaust. Hence the conclusion: there is no God (or He is not good).
But people forget the third possibility: that He did not cause the Holocaust.
Discussion on Answer
You have opened Pandora’s box here. In my opinion, He did not cause the Holocaust, and it is not true that He is responsible for everything. People caused the Holocaust. As for evil in the world, search the site; there are lots of discussions about it.
A detailed discussion appears in my trilogy, which will be published soon by Mamesh.
Why not say that the first assumption, that God is good, is not necessary?
God defined the good for us and expects us to act accordingly, so why is it reasonable to assume that He too acts accordingly?
As best I remember, in questions about the Euthyphro dilemma, you argue that God chose the good arbitrarily, but once He chose it, we are obligated to obey Him. If from His perspective it is arbitrary, then it makes more sense to say that He Himself is not bound by it, but only created it “for us.”
Nothing is necessary, but it is still a very reasonable assumption. He also tells us that He is good, and that is how He is described in the Bible as well. He cares for us, even if we have difficulties with some of His actions.
In the Euthyphro dilemma, I do not recall writing that the good is arbitrary. On the contrary, I argue that it is a derivative of the world as it is. In this world, the good is defined and cannot be changed. But the Holy One, blessed be He, decided to create the world this way, and He could have done so differently as well (and then the good there would have been defined differently).
What is the source for that in the Bible? Nothing comes to mind.
See Psalms 145:9, and also, “The Lord, the Lord, a compassionate and gracious God,” and others.
How did He not cause the Holocaust? He is responsible for everything, and besides, why did He allow it to happen? And in general, why does He allow bad things to happen (like diseases and crimes)?