But then you say evil isn’t an absence of good. I’m sorry I’m not following you.
I’m saying evil is a perspective.
Let’s continue with the homophobia example. As a Catholic on a middle-road conservative forum I am going to assume you hold that Same Sex Marriage is an abomination and should be fought against tooth and nail. You hold this opinion presumably because your religion teaches you that God dislikes it and error has no right to exist.
As an Atheist on the other hand who has yet to become a Marian seer or mystic I have no motivation to hold the personal opinions of an author speaking through one of their characters.
Where I see extension of basic civil dignity to other people, you see a dread blasphemy. Likewise, I think your reluctance to extend legal recognition of same sex marriage (note how I don’t include “participate”) is barbaric.
We both see each other as incorrect, you see my opinions as evil; likewise I feel yours on this front are gravely immoral.
Evil is what we don’t want to happen, or that which goes against our wishes. Stuff like Murder is nearly always universally seen as murder because no stable society can exist where one is free to murder ones neighbors at will without consequence.
I think choice matters most: what I choose based on what I know (which includes logic), assisted by properly ordered emotions
Okay. Let’s presume tomorrow your child if you have one decides to convert to the Church of the Invisible Pink Unicorn. She knows the evidence supporting the existence of Her Supreme Pink Fluffiness is scant, but she “chooses” to embrace faith. She makes the leap of faith and holds that Invisible Pink Unicornism is the one true faith because it speaks to her on a spiritual level and she chooses it.
Are you going to accept that, or try and talk her out of it with a rational, indeed logical argument?
Please don’t mischaracterize my reasoning as “warm and cozy” feelings. It only shows me that you have a superficial understanding of Christianity.
I’m a Religious Studies post-graduate and a published periodical writer. I read and speak fluent Koine Greek, Latin and have a fairly good grasp of Hebrew which enables me good access to church documents. Though not as great as some I think I have a good grasp of Christian doctrine.
But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?” Perhaps you should start there.
Reason, evidence and experimentation. As highlighted above some actions tend to be universally seen as evil because they are not conductive to the survival of the tribe. Evolution is actually quite a good moral source, because ineffective moral positions (I’ll flee when the tribe is attacked rather than fight even though we’re stronger together) tend to be wiped out by natural selection.
I consider what is contributive to human flourishing to be just, and thus that casts out things like theft.
Mere Christianity and the Screwtape letters are standard reading for many people who have later become Atheists, looking into it usually for some assurance or affirmation of what they’re trying to hold onto. Lewis seems to have taken place almost as an oracle in this regard, I was especially perplexed at the time why as a Catholic I would have been recommended the work of a schismatic.