The Logical Paradox of a Good God
How an ancient argument remains a trip hazard for theists.
This is a paradox dating back to Plato which reemerged in the writings of the eminent 20th-century philosopher Bertrand Russell, who lived and wrote for much of his life in exactly the same town in which I am currently living and writing: Cambridge, England.
Not that I think I have much else by way of comparison to perhaps one of the greatest minds of the last few centuries of philosophy.
Nevertheless, Russell at one time in his life adapted a lecture into a short book (more of a pamphlet, or a printed-and-bound essay) called Why I Am Not a Christian, which did pretty much what it said on the tin: it outlined his problems with the faith. This is a book I read a number of years ago now — I read it at a time where my faith was beginning to shake, for a number of reasons, and it is one I have long intended to go back to.
This short work has been subjected over the years to a number of copycat titles, like Why I Am Still a Christian (Hans Küng), Why I Am Not a Muslim (Ibn Warraq), Why I Am Not a Hindu (Kancha Ilaiah), Why I Am Not a Communist (Karel Čapek), and so forth. None of these, to my knowledge, have had quite the same sway.
