Origo

Theodicies
Speaking of death as "philosophy's only problem," Camus was pointing, at least indirectly, to the enduring "Problem of Evil": If there is a Good and Almighty God, why is there evil in the world? Attempts to answer this problem are called theodicies, i.e., attempts to justify or exonerate God from guilt (or from weakness) for the evil He apparently allows.

Gnosticism was (and is) a theodicy that solves the problem of evil by positing demiurges, secondary gods who are responsible for creating the material world and its evils (the rascals!). Darwinism is also a theodicy, originally focusing on natural evil, i.e., the viciousness and waste perceived in nature. Darwinism solves the problem of natural evil by putting natural laws between God and nature. More Gnostic than atheistic, Darwinism nevertheless distances God far enough from creation to make Him irrelevant.

While American Christians may frown upon Darwinism, many have unconsciously adopted a similar theodicy, the one taught in one of Charles Darwin's favorite works, namely, John Milton's Paradise Lost. Milton popularized the theodicy that distances God from moral evil by positing a God who places a high premium on the autonomy of the creature. As in Darwinism where God creates the universe with its laws of physics and then backs off to let things run on their own, so in "Miltonism" God creates perfect humans, and then backs off to let them make their own choices, whether good or evil. The bottom line of a Miltonian theodicy is human autonomy. We Americans love that!