No God, No Evil

Atheists often bring up the problem of evil for Christians.  They ask how can God be good and omnipotent (all powerful) and still allow evil?  Have atheists struck a fatal blow against Christianity?  Or do atheists have their own problem of evil?  

The atheist actually finds himself in a quandary.  He says there is no God and then proceeds to talk about evil.  But if there is evil, there must also be good.  If there is good and evil then we have a moral framework.  For a moral framework to exist there must be an absolute authority who is outside of us and greater than us.  

An atheist has no basis on which to categorize or define evil.  Without God as a transcendent authority there is no good or evil.  It has been said that if God does not exist then all things are permissible.  

Atheism has no basis for morality and cannot consistently speak of good and evil.  Atheists cannot even call murder or child abuse wrong and be consistent.  Atheists must borrow from the Christian worldview in order to have the concepts of good and evil.  Atheism simply cannot be consistently lived.  Good is what is in line with God's law and character.  Evil is whatever violates his law and character.  

The atheist defeats his own argument and refutes himself.  If there is no God then there can be no evil.  In order to speak of evil, God must exist.  The existence of evil does not disprove the existence of God.  To the contrary, the existence of evil is proof for the existence of God.