As St Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica proposed, one of the biggest questions about the existence of God, or at least an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God, is the problem of evil. It’s also a fairly straightforward question and one that has challenged many thinkers and writers and everyday people of faith (and no faith) of every kind of background — why do bad things happen?

Bad things happening can involve natural disasters, like earthquakes. Or terrible diseases like Zika. There’s crimes like murder, corruption in government and injustices in all kinds of situations. If God is all off the ‘good and great things’ God is claimed to be, then how do these things happen?

There’s a number of justifications and writers who have expanded on this topic, which I’ll unpack over the next few episodes, but there’s also a few resources in the blog for additional reference.