Question 2 of 21

Some philosophers, theologians and religious apologists have made the distinction between "moral evil" and "natural evil." What's the difference?

... An act is a moral evil if it is performed knowingly by a being with free will. All other evils, such as diseases and natural disasters, are natural evils.

Question 3 of 21

What does a moral relativist believe?

... Moral relativists reject the notion that actions or events are intrinsically good or evil. They tend to believe that we decide what is good and evil based on our cultural values and upbringing.

Question 4 of 21

"What good fortune for those in power that people do not think." Which world leader made this statement?

... According to the German historian Joachim Fest, Adolf Hitler once remarked, "What good fortune for those in power that people do not think."

Question 5 of 21

What do philosophers and theologians mean when they refer to the "problem of evil"?

... The "problem of evil" refers to all of the possible questions about why an omnipotent and loving God would allow evil things to happen. Some thinkers have asked this question to refine their conceptions of God, while others have used it to suggest that no such God could exist.

Question 6 of 21

"What a book a devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering, low and horribly cruel work of nature." Which renowned 19th-century luminary made this comment?

... This quote shows that Charles Darwin saw some contradictions between the brutal nature of the world and our elevated concept of the Divine.

Question 7 of 21

What is the name of the field of theology that attempts to explain why an all-loving, omnipotent God would permit evil?

... Theodicy examines the nature of evil, specifically relating to the God issue. The question of how an all-powerful, all-knowing deity could permit suffering and pain in the world has been debated for centuries.

Question 8 of 21

What is the origin of the word "evil," according to the Oxford English Dictionary?

... According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "evil" is derived from the Old English "yfel" of Germanic origin. It is related to the Dutch "euvel" and the German "Ãœbel."

Question 9 of 21

Which philosopher said, "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction"?

... Blaise Pascal was a 17th-century philosopher and an accomplished mathematician. Though he himself was a devout Catholic, he admitted that religion often drove people to do horrible things.

Question 10 of 21

According the late U.C. Berkeley professor of anthropology Allan Dundes, the "evil eye" doesn't appear in the folklore of cultures in which regions of the world?

... According to Professor Dundes, the concept of the "evil eye" is primarily an Indo-European and Semitic belief. It doesn't appear in the folklore of natives from the North and South Americas and the Oceania region.

Question 11 of 21

Which ancient warrior became known as the "Scourge of God" due to his barbaric attacks on the Roman Empire?

... In the 440s, Attila the Hun savaged the Roman Empire. His violent campaigns exceeded that of any other barbarian invasions on record.

Question 12 of 21

In 1961, Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale, devised an experiment ostensibly to study the correlation between punishment and learning. Participants were instructed to give what they thought were real electrical shocks to learners who gave wrong answers to questions. What were the study's findings?

... The Milgram Experiment takes the cake when it comes to unethical experiments. However, its results were interesting: The majority of participants blindly followed instructions from test administrators, continuing to "shock" those who gave incorrect answers. Fortunately, the "learners" were actors and the shocks were not real.

Question 13 of 21

Who wrote, "What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil"?

... Nietzsche wrote this aphorism in Beyond Good and Evil, in which he challenges fellow human beings to move beyond traditional concepts of good and evil and to build a new morality.

Question 14 of 21

Tomas de Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor during the Spanish Inquisition, wrote of an effective torture practice in which the victim's nose is plugged and the torturer pours water into the victim's mouth. What is the common name of this procedure?

... The "water cure" is somewhat similar to modern tactic of waterboarding. Due to his brutality and sadism, Tomas de Torquemada has been compared to Hitler and other wicked figures.

Question 15 of 21

Which of the following weapons did Joseph Stalin use to kill millions of Ukrainians during the early 1930s?

... Joseph Stalin orchestrated a man-made famine by taking control of peasants' farmland, greatly reducing crop production. Millions starved to death in what came to be known as the Holodomor, which translates roughly as "murder by starvation."

Question 16 of 21

Which of these quotes is attributed to the American serial killer Ted Bundy?

... Ted Bundy, who killed at least 30 women between 1974 and 1978, is widely quoted as saying, "Murder is not about lust and it's not about violence. It's about possession."

Question 17 of 21

Which serial killer, who confessed to 27 murders but is thought to have perhaps killed hundreds, is considered America's first serial killer?

... H.H. Holmes began his killing career in 1893, when he opened a hotel for people visiting the Chicago World's Fair. He confessed to 27 murders, but some investigators speculated he may have killed hundreds.

Question 18 of 21

According to the widely accepted Holmes typology classification of serial killers, what constitutes a "power-seeking killer"?

... Power-seeking killers enjoy wielding the power of life and death over their victims. Many serial killers transcend the Holmes typology system, occupying more than one category at once. A killer might enjoy playing God while receiving sexual satisfaction from the murder as well.

Question 19 of 21

Hungarian countess and 16th-century serial killer Elizabeth Bathory terrorized the locals in her domain, particularly young servant girls. What legend sprang from her prolific killing spree?

... According to legend, Bathory bathed in her victims' blood -- ostensibly to keep her skin looking young and healthy.

Question 20 of 21

In 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment, studying the relationship between power and evil. Set in a simulated prison, law-abiding participants were assigned roles of either prison guard or inmate. What question was Dr. Zimbardo attempting to answer?

... The goal of the Stanford Prison Experiment was to answer the question, "What happens when when we put good apples in a bad barrel?" The two-week study was stopped after six days because of the damaging psychological effects the experiment had on participants.

Question 21 of 21

The notion of the evil eye has long been present in the folklore of many cultures. It has a particular stronghold in Mediterranean countries. What do Greeks call their version of the evil eye?

... Some Greeks refer to the evil eye as "mátiasma." A person usually inflicts this curse by looking on someone or something with envy or jealously.

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