Charles Milliken: The appeal of evil
Evil has had bad press for a long time. No one seems to be in favor of it. So why does it remain so popular? Indeed, does “evil,” and its related concept “sin,” even exist any more?
Once upon a time, not so many years ago, when Western society was overwhelmingly Christian, “evil” and “sin” were unambiguously defined as that which was displeasing to God. Since God has so largely been eliminated from the current social milieu, “evil” and “sin” are no longer part of our vocabulary. Sin is no longer sin — sin is merely a mistake somebody makes. Furthermore, much that was once considered sinful is now not so bad. Consider stealing, a violation of the eighth commandment, “Thou shall not steal.” In some jurisdictions, shoplifting is considered a minor offense as long as less than $1,000 is stolen. Murder used to be unreservedly evil, (sixth commandment) but now it depends on the victim. Babies in the womb may not only be killed with impunity, but it is a positive right of the mother to do so, if she wishes. Murdering Jews is once again in fashion, since Jews are guilty of oppressing Palestinians. Come to think of it, murdering Jews has been in fashion for a long time. They’ve always been guilty of something.
Similar terms, such as “good” and “bad” have fallen out of fashion. I remember public service announcements of years ago telling car owners not to leave their keys in their cars, lest they “help a good boy go bad.” I never thought a “good” boy would steal a car, or anything else, no matter how easy.
Irrespective of terminology, I suspect the great majority still have a sense of what evil is, even if they don’t use the word. Its appeal is that evil acts help us to attain what would otherwise likely be unobtainable, or obtainable only with considerable effort. After all, it costs more to buy a car than to steal it. Decades ago I did a stint as a volunteer teacher at a local prison. Since the convicts were quite open with me with respect to their crimes, I noted a constant thread of what landed them in jail: they wanted what they wanted, they wanted it now, and didn’t care what stood in the way. One young man had a “successful” career dealing drugs. Why did he do it? “I wanted women, I wanted thousand dollar boots, I wanted to travel, I wanted jewelry, I just reached into my pocket and peeled off hundred dollar bills.” He was convicted of murder. Murder, he pointed out, was just sometimes necessary in pursuit of his business interests. After all, he couldn’t exactly go to the courts to seek redress if someone “ripped me off.”
Although his case is a bit extreme — five admitted murders in pursuit of his business interests - the news is rife with accounts of others pursuing their ends by evil means. Fraud, deceit, serial lying, assorted corruption, bribes, kickbacks, embezzlement, you name it all made in an effort to obtain what could not honestly be obtained. I need hardly remind anyone of how much chicanery occurs in politics.
Perhaps there never was a golden age, even when this was an overtly Christian nation, when sin and evil weren’t rife. But at least, back then, sin and evil were labeled what they were, and I am sure that fact alone helped make a lot of “good boys” not go bad. “Bad boys,” however, have always done what they’ve done.
Is there any solution to this steady spiral of lawlessness in our society? Without a robust and widespread belief in God, the answer is no. We are like passengers on a ship with no compass. Sooner or later disaster strikes, and the innocent drown with the guilty.
Then what? The late Mao said that all power flows from the barrel of a gun. Society won’t tolerate chaos forever. Will we return to God? Or is a police state tyranny our inevitable fate?
— Charles Milliken is a professor emeritus after 22 years of teaching economics and related subjects at Siena Heights University. He can be reached at milliken.charles@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Charles Milliken: The appeal of evil
