ABSTRACT
Climate scientists agree that global warming threatens the survival of civilization. A test for a theodicy is whether it makes people complacent in the face of this crisis. Process theodicy shows how climate change could destroy human civilization, even though our world was produced by a creator with perfect power and goodness. The traditional doctrine of divine omnipotence, both Rubenstein and Jones argued, tends to create acceptance and complacency in the face of horrendous evil. The traditional doctrine of omnipotence can be considered the central tenet of supernaturalism, according to which what we call the natural world, including human beings, is under the control, at least potentially, of a divine being. By contrast, traditional theism, with its creatio ex nihilo, has convinced many people, including many United States politicians, that one need not worry about continuing to burn fossil fuels, because civilization will not be destroyed unless God wants this.
