A common objection raised by religious individuals is:
“In religion, if someone is wronged and the oppressor escapes punishment in this life, God will punish them in the hereafter. But in atheism, if someone suffers injustice and dies without seeing justice, then how will justice ever be served?”
Our Response:
Firstly, Nature is not a conscious entity that rewards or punishes. It has no intelligent design, no morality, no intent, and no concern for justice.
Nature causes earthquakes, floods, hurricanes etc. These were the events that destroy entire cities without remorse or purpose. Entire species, such as the dinosaurs, were wiped out long before humans existed. Billions of species went extinct without any trace of “divine plan.” No justice was given, no reward or punishment was handed out. That’s because justice is not a natural law, but it’s a human invention.
The natural world also gives rise to diseases and pandemics that kill millions in horrific and painful ways. The suffering caused by a virus or a genetic disorder is often far greater than anything a murderer could inflict. Who is to blame for such suffering? If God created everything, including the suffering of terminally ill children, then is He not the one responsible for their pain? And if He is, shouldn’t He be held accountable?
When babies are born with deformities, trapped in pain and misery with no choices or understanding, how can the idea of divine justice apply? They didn’t choose this fate, nor did they have the capacity for intention (niyyah), which is supposedly the basis for moral judgment in religion. So if the rule is “Actions are judged by intentions”, then what about those who never had the ability to form an intention? How is eternal reward or punishment justified in such cases?
Justice is a man-made system
Justice is a man-made system. It exists because humans created it, not because nature or a god imposed it. Through evolution and the development of rationality, human beings developed moral and legal systems to survive, cooperate, and thrive. These systems aim to deter crime, maintain social order, and provide a sense of fairness, but they are not perfect. Some criminals escape justice. That’s a flaw in human systems, not an argument for divine ones.
Unlike religion, which defers justice to an unseen realm, secular systems strive to provide justice here and now. If someone commits murder and escapes justice, that failure lies with the society or legal system, and society can and does pay the price for it through instability or increased crime.
Yes, human justice systems are fallible. But despite imperfections, they serve the collective purpose of social order and deterrence. The idea of a perfect system of punishment and reward in an afterlife is unsupported by any evidence. If divine justice truly worked, there would be no need for courts, police, or jails in religious societies. But clearly, religious communities have just as much, if not more, crime, which shows that fear of divine punishment is not enough.
Conclusion
In atheism, there is no grand cosmic judge handing out punishment. Nature doesn’t care. But humans do. Justice is our responsibility, but it’s not built into the universe. We seek justice not because the universe demands it, but because we as thinking, feeling beings need it to live together. We created moral frameworks to serve human goals, not divine ones.
And when religion claims that a child suffering from birth is part of God’s plan, without giving that child any choice or voice, that raises deeper moral concerns than it answers. A just system requires choice, agency, and intention. Without those, any reward or punishment, divine or human, loses its moral value.
Hassan Radwan