Does the Tale undercut its own presumption of human value?
According to Swires, the Tale argues for atheism. However, the Tale also seems to presuppose that Ms. K’s life has value, and that rape and murder are bad, and Swires thinks all assignments of value are inconsistent with atheism. Presumably, in an atheistic universe, life cannot have any inherent value at all, so atheists cannot say that rape and murder are bad. Thus, thinks Swires, the atheistic conclusion for which the Tale supposedly argues undercuts the assumptions the Tale needs in order to get off the ground in the first place. This line of counterargument against the argument from evil is common in popular apologetics, but fails for two reasons: (i) there actually is no inconsistency between atheism and value; and (ii) the argument from evil is not an atheological argument. (i) There is no inconsistency between atheism and value. The idea that there is an inconsistency between atheism and value vanishes with a moment’s reflection. Believers who think such an inconsistency exists
