Peter Geach
The problem of evil assumes that God is omnipotent, all-powerful, or at least that he is sufficiently powerful to have prevented the evils of the world. According to the problem of evil, if God existed then he had the opportunity to prevent evil but did not take it. God, though, would not let such an opportunity pass; he therefore does not exist.
If the theist is willing to deny that God is omnipotent, then he may be able to resist this argument. If God were not able to prevent evil, then the existence of evil would not prove the non-existence of God. The existence of a God who is unable to prevent evil is quite consistent with the existence of evil; God would be reduced to an innocent, if powerless, bystander.
Peter Geach expresses his disagreement with the idea that God is omnipotent in the following passage:
"A Christian must believe that God is almighty; but he need not believe that God can do everything. Indeed… a Christian must not believe that God can do everything: for he may not believe that God could possibly break his own word… The denial that God is omnipotent, or able to do everything, may seem dishonouring to God; but when we see where the contrary affirmation, in its various forms, has led, we may well cry out with Hobbes: 'Can any man think God is served with such absurdities?'"
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