ABSTRACT
A standard response to the problem of evil is to reject theism altogether. There is no God, runs this response, and we should therefore seek a nonreligious meaning in life and construct a morality which makes no reference to God. There is, however, another response, one which has become increasingly influential among theologians during the last few decades. Consider the ‘therefore’ of the sentence before last. If God does not exist as a real entity, responsible for the existence of the universe, does it follow that we should give up talk of God, and seek to inoculate ourselves against any religious influence on our affairs? Some writers have rejected this inference, and suggested that there is room for a different interpretation of talk about God. One difficulty with this position is that it is often couched in rather vague terms, encouraging the view that it is simply atheism dressed up in a few religious frills, the last refuge for one-time believers who cannot admit that they have lost their faith. In order to present this, in my view important, religious position with some precision, I shall make use of a debate in the philosophy of science over the status of theoretical entities. It will help us in our discussion, since it has not only been quite carefully defined by the contestants, but it also suggests a theological parallel.
