Religious people present the following objection:
According to religion, if the oppressed victim doesn't get justice in this world against the tyrant, he still knows that Allah will punish the tyrant in the hereafter. But if a child is killed, and police is unable to catch the killer, how that child will get justice in a non-religious system.
Answer:
NATURE has no concept of justice and punishment.
And there is also no 'intelligent design' in Nature, and it does not aim to achieve any goal.
Due to nature, there are earthquakes, storms, floods, and hurricanes which kill thousands of people and destroy whole cities, but nature gets no punishment or reward for all these killings and damage.
Due to nature, dinosaurs and millions of other species were wiped out even before the advent of humans (i.e. so-called Adam) on this earth. There was no goal involved in their coming or becoming non-existent before the arrival of humans. We don't even know about these millions of species which became non-existent before us.
Due to nature, thousands of diseases come and kill millions of people. And their death is extremely slow and extremely painful. It is hundreds of times more painful as compared to when one person kills another person. So, who is responsible for all this extreme pain and long-suffering when a person is killed through these natural diseases, and how to punish the one who is responsible for it?
And millions of children are born with birth defects and have to suffer the whole of their lives with extreme pain due to this. Who is then responsible, and who should be punished for that? If it was really Allah who gave them these diseases and pain, then shouldn't Allah be punished for this crime?
The reality is, this system of justice and punishment is a man-made system.
If a killer does not get the punishment, then nature does not care about it (i.e. no natural disaster like flood or earthquakes etc. occur due to this). But if he does not get the punishment, then it is a mistake of society, and such a society will get the punishment in this world for this mistake (i.e. such a society get destroyed due to lack of justice system).
Humans got intelligence due to the process of evolution, and due to this intelligence, they tried to create an 'intelligent design' for themselves, which has an aim and which is based upon a system of justice and punishment.
And since humans are not 100% PERFECT, thus the system of justice and punishment could also be never 100% perfect. It may be possible that a few criminals may dodge the system and do not get the punishment. But despite these few exceptional cases, our aim as a collective society is still achieved, and we indeed succeed in forming a society which could exist and progress through this system (despite it being not 100% perfect).
The concept of justice and punishment in the hereafter is only a Drama. No society could be formed on the basis of this concept of justice in the hereafter alone. If it was really possible, then no religious society would have introduced physical punishments in this world.
For example, if you are close to death, then it is your mind which will prepare you to face it by presenting this argument that death is a reality, and the whole universe is functioning upon the same principle, then why fear death? It will further prepare you by giving this argument that death is a form of ‘blessing’ too.
The result of this mental preparation is that Atheists are often much more peaceful at the time of their death as compared to religious people. For example, please watch videos of interviews of these people before Euthanasia (link) and see how calm they are before death.
Similarly, if someone does any injustice to you, still it is your mind that guides you that this universe didn’t come into being on the principles of ‘justice’. And there is no principle of justice present within ‘nature’ itself, but these are human beings who developed the sense of justice during the process of evolution, and thus they try to uphold justice for the betterment of humanity.
It is your mind which will guide you if that person is strong, who is doing injustice to you, then we have to show ‘patience’ and we should be persistent in raising our voices against this injustice. Thus, our mind prepares us mentally to face injustices too with courage and bravery.
In short, there is not a single situation in the world for which our mind could not prepare us mentally to face it. And once we are ready mentally, then we don’t need any other false hope and false support of any god.
Hassan Radwan