Are Evil Forces at Work?

“The world is overcome by vertigo, as if occult powers were conscientiously trying to block all the emergency exits.”​—Jean-Claude Souléry, journalist.

‘The individual’s feelings of impotence tend to elicit a sense of overwhelming evil at work.’​—Josef Barton, historian.

THE sheer horror of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks caused many to reflect. Writing in England’s Financial Times, Michael Prowse stated: “No animal would or could act in so barbarous a fashion.” A New York Times editorial observed that beyond the planning that the assault required, “it is just as important to consider the intensity of the hatred it took to bring it off. It is a hatred that exceeds the conventions of warfare, that knows no limits, abides by no agreements.”

People of various persuasions reflected on the possibility that some malignant power is at work. A businessman from Sarajevo who witnessed the horrors of the ethnic hatred in Bosnia declared: “After a year of the Bosnian war I believe Satan pulls the strings. This is pure madness.”

When asked if he believed in the Devil, historian Jean Delumeau replied: “How could I deny the power of evil when I see what is occurring and what has occurred since I was born: The second world war, with over 40 million victims; Auschwitz and the death camps; the genocide in Cambodia; the bloody tyranny of the Ceauşescu regime; torture as a system of government in many places throughout the world. The list of horrors is endless. . . . So I believe that we are justified in calling such acts ‘diabolic,’ not that they are inspired by a Devil with horns and cloven feet but by a Devil that is the symbol of the spirit and power of evil operating in the world.”

Like Jean Delumeau, many people characterize as “diabolic” the horrendous things that are occurring today in human society, from the family level right up to the international scene. But what does this mean? Are such horrors to be attributed to abstract powers of evil, or are there personal malevolent forces at work pushing humans to commit heinous crimes that go beyond habitual human badness? Are such forces masterminded by a prince of evil​—Satan the Devil?

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Children: U.S. Coast Guard photo