TO BRAVO BRAINS ONLY: Comparative Paper Due: Compare, contrast and evaluate the views of writers from three different religions on the problem of explaining why bad things happen to good people.

Comparative Paper:

The comparative paper gives you an opportunity to reflect on at least three answers to the problem of evil – why do bad things happen to good people, and how should we respond?

10 marks will be given for demonstrating an understanding of writers from three different religions. This means that you must learn to understand their technical terminology and consider how their environment shaped their way of thinking about evil. Are they more concerned with comforting people who have suffered, or scaring people who are prone to misbehavior, or are their concerns more theoretical than practical – demonstrating that the existence of evil does not undermine their basic beliefs?

10 marks will be given for your evaluation of the writers you have studied. Do they provide helpful responses to the issue of evil? You need to explain what you think makes for a helpful response. At the very least, it should be consistent with our experience, and with what we know about human nature. It should also help people to find a way to cope with such situations – by giving us hope, or by helping us find the inner resources to handle such situations with dignity. The evaluation should involve a comparative element – did all three writers basically say the same thing? Or was one of them more helpful than the others, and if so, why? Were they all a waste of time, and if so, is that because they all shared some assumption that you reject?

The comparative paper should be at least 2000 words long. This is the most challenging assignment, and I suggest that you work on it throughout the semester. MLA FORMAT. SELECT 3 OF THE RELIGIONS GIVEN ON THE FILES.