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Articles on Evil

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A woman at a Holocaust Memorial Centre in Macedonia looks at portraits of Jewish people killed in the Treblinka Nazi concentration camp. Georgi Licovkski/AAP

Is it time to reconsider the idea of ‘the banality of evil’?

Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was anything but banal. His case is an apt reminder of how evil agents can deflect accountability, denying victims even the thin consolation of the moral high ground.
Diwali is the most important festival for the South Asian community. Photo By Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post via Getty Images

The many stories of Diwali share a common theme of triumph of justice

Many Indian Americans will be celebrating the festival of Diwali soon. A scholar of Asian religion explains what this festival of lights means – especially in chaotic times.
In the movie based on William Paul Young’s ‘The Shack,’ Mack (Sam Worthington), second from the left, meets the Trinity. From left to right: Jesus, the Son (Avraham Aviv Alush), Papa, God the Father (Octavia Spencer) and Sarayu, the Holy Spirit (Sumire Matsubara). (Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate)

Popular Christian novel ‘The Shack’ finds a surprising solution to the problem of evil: Polytheism

The problems of suffering and evil emerging in the coronavirus pandemic occupy popular evangelical fiction. In ‘The Shack,’ proliferating divine beings harken to a long-standing solution.
A man adds his comments to a spontaneous memorial of flowers and sidewalk writing that has appeared a block from the Tree of Life Synagogue on Monday, Oct. 29. A gunman shot a killed 11 people while they worshipped at the synagogue the Saturday before. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

Educators must challenge the politics of evil

To grasp how extraordinary evils are often committed by ordinary people, we need to consider how we define evil, and most importantly, whom we consider to be the agents of evil.
Mosaics by artist Chuck Close on the walls of the new 86th Street subway station on the Second Avenue line in New York. AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File

#MeToo in the art world: Genius should not excuse sexual harassment

In his short play from 1830, ‘Mozart and Salieri,’ Russian poet Alexander Pushkin proposed that genius and evil are incompatible. Here’s why this argument is worth revisiting in light of #MeToo.
A statue of John A. Macdonald is shown covered in red paint in Montreal in November 2017. Canada’s first Prime MInister, he has been criticized for his treatment of Indigenous peoples and attitudes towards those of Chinese origin. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)

Why history education is central to the survival of democracy

In a time of populism and political polarization, children and young adults need to learn to think critically, with complexity and nuance. History, as a subject, is more important than ever.
Hear no evil? Many politicians have labelled Islamic State ‘evil’, but what does that really mean? See-no-hear-no-speak-no-evil monkeys/Shuttterstock

Unique evil, death cults and War on Terror: do these labels help?

Our time, this decade even, has shown us that man’s capacity for evil knows no limits. – Then United Nations’ Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 1997 Over the past few weeks leading up to the US-led bombing…
The idea may seem ‘old-fashioned’, says Pope Francis, ‘But look out because the devil is present! The devil is here … even in the 21st century!’ EPA/Maurizio Brambatti

What is Pope Francis on about with all this talk of Satan and evil?

Pope Francis’ discussion of the devil (or Satan) has been greeted with surprise by many. Why would a “progressive” Pope speak about an “old-school”, passé topic like the devil? Has not the Catholic Church…

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