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Evil in the world
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August 6, 2020
Much unrest exists in the world today.
We are in the midst of a global pandemic.
Riots are occurring in the streets of America.
Our country is divided in its beliefs of what
is right and wrong, and whom to trust and
believe. Is all this unrest the work of the
devil, human nature or something else?
Traditional Catholic moral teaching says there are three sources of evil – “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” Dom Helder Camara, who was the holy and wise Archbishop of Recife, Brazil, taught that these three sources were “a spiral of violence” spiraling from the bottom up.
“The world” (systemic evil) is the lie at the root of most cultures about power, prestige and possessions. All we have to do is turn on our televisions and look at all the ways “we can be happy” if we buy certain products. Power, prestige and possessions cannot buy true happiness.
In the middle is “the flesh” (the personal evil and bad choices we make as individuals). Jesus was clear where much evil comes from – within a person. He said, “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:21-23).
At the top is “the devil” (evil disguised as “good power” to reinforce the first two). They can be found in institutions that start wars to protect self-interests, uphold the “laws” of the market economy that keep the rich in power and the poor with nothing, most penal systems and many police forces, unjust legal systems and tax systems, etc.
We rightly call these institutions “diabolical” because, starting with the snake in Genesis, high-level evil always disguises itself as good, charming, on your side, and even virtuous.
In the Genesis story, God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The devil told them that they would be just like God if they ate it. They wanted to be in control and “do it their way” and not God’s way. That’s the original sin. This tendency not to listen to God but to take the most appealing or “the easy way out” is part of our human nature.
The Jewish prophets were a unique and inspired group who exposed all three sources of evil.
This is also why people have ignored them, and Jesus as well, the greatest Jewish prophet. These prophets did concentrate more on “the world” and “the devil,” which very often passes as a good and necessary “evil.” This is why evil continues to control so much of the human reality.
Throughout human history most people’s moral thinking has been overwhelmingly oriented around the personal evils of “the flesh.” We don’t see the evil foundations in our culture itself because we are so much a part of it, nor do we critique our own major social institutions on a moral level. This is really quite amazing. The individual gets all the blame and punishment for evil, while we never called the selfish world views and violent institutions into account.
Some examples might be helpful. In 2008, financial firms sold subprime loans to large commercial investors in pools of mortgages known as mortgage-backed securities. By the fall of 2008, borrowers were defaulting on subprime mortgages in high numbers, causing turmoil in the financial markets, the collapse of the stock market, and the resulting global Great Recession. It was institutional greed that caused this Recession. Not one person went to jail.
Today people are rioting in the street because our government institutions do not treat all people equally. The COVID-19 pandemic was caused by humans and animals interaction in China. However, when our national leaders learned about this in January, they did nothing to stop the spread in the U.S. So more than 150,000 Americans have died – the highest number in the world. Leaders of institutions have lied to us. We need to take the time to seek the truth.
Our greatest calling is to be healers for those who are hurting, to be cooperators with the Lord in bringing light, truth, salvation, restoration and hope to our broken world.