Is belief in an evil God more plausible than belief in a good God? Stephen Law vs Jack Symes hosted by Vince Vitale

Did you hear the one about the three philosophers? Yes, on Unbelievable? 👀 🧠 🎙️In this episode, Oxford philosopher Stephen Law, the main proponent of the Evil God Challenge, argues that the evidential problem of evil challenges the belief in a good God. ⚡️ Jack Symes contends that there are asymmetries between the arguments for believing in a good God and an evil God. The debate examines the distribution of good and evil in the world as evidence and explores how theists defend belief in a good God through theodicies, revelation, and religious experience.

Jack Symes is a public philosopher and researcher in philosophy at Durham University, whose academic research lies at the intersection of philosophy of mind and religion. Jack is best known as the producer of The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast, one of the UK’s most popular higher education podcasts. His books include Philosophers on God: Talking about Existence (2024) and Defeating the Evil-God Challenge: In Defence of God’s Goodness (2024). He was recently named one of BBC’s New Generation Thinkers for 2024. Stephen Law is a philosopher and author, currently Director of Philosophy and Cert HE at Oxford University Department of Continuing Education. Stephen has published many popular books, including The Philosophy Gym, The Complete Philosophy Files, and Believing Bullshit.