Is god willing to prevent evil but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. If he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is god both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?
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Got any idea who first said or wrote that beautiful quote? On the net it seems split between David Hume and Epicurus but I’ve never seen a solid library citation.
This particular phrasing is from a Brief History of Disbelief with Johnathan Miller – an excellent documentary series. I’m not sure what source he calls upon – it is a tricky matter to cite Epicurus as none of his works survived the fires of the Catholic church intact, his existence and the nature of his philosophy is known to us by other authors referring to him, and this is how fragments such as this become attributed.