Christians believe evil is real, but people understand it in different ways.
Evil can affect individuals and whole societies.
It is seen in personal suffering and in things like violence, poverty, discrimination and oppression.
How Christians respond depends on how they understand evil and its power. The Church responds through worship, prayer, preaching, pastoral care and action for justice.
Evil is mentioned often in worship. In baptism, we turn away from evil. In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to “deliver us from evil.” Christians may face evil many times in life, but we trust that Christ has defeated its power through his death and resurrection.
People themselves can choose to do evil – through actions, words or silence – when they turn away from love, truth or responsibility. Evil takes shape through human decisions and behaviours, whether deliberately or through fear, selfishness or indifference. This means that evil is not just ‘out there’ but something Christians are called to resist and repent of in themselves, as well as to challenge in the world around them.
