Does evil exist?

Interesting question - Let us presume that evil does not exist - "A hypothesis"

So, evil does not exist.
Then you (yes you can play the other side) suggest that the Nazis/Hitler were evil.
I say: Really? "Yes"  The stuff the nazis got up was because of evil? "Yes" An evil spirit made them do those crazy things?  So they weren't responsible?  Something else called "evil" was responsible. "Well yes..."

You know I'm thinking there are shades of evil, but we should be thinking about how many people view evil.  Evil is the result of the "Devil".  The Devil has enticed you towards an evil act.  The dark side....

Interesting.  So if I was to do something bad to another person (say hit them with a bat) would I be responsible or would the "evil" thing be responsible.

The religious amongst us contend that evil is all around us and that it needs to be turned away from, and that if the evil has caused you to do a bad thing then you can be reconciled from it by another third party - "God" A forgiveness that will take on your burden of responsibility.

Wow - that last statement is huge.  So you can be absolved of the responsibility.  In other words, the consequence for the bad thing you did is gone - no consequence.

What if we were to re-label "Evil" and called "Acts of Wrong"  People doing wrongs against others/things.  This definition would still be considered evil, but its not seen as coming from another third-party source like the Satan etc.

Who is responsible for Acts of Wrong?  Well the people themselves.  No "passing the buck" with this, these people own it.

I like this definition because it can also include Acts of Wrong perpetuated by people thinking they were doing Gods Work.  Nope - they were just wrong and they in flicked bad stuff on other people or things.

Does evil exist? No.  They are Acts of Wrong that people should be responsible for.