Panentheism and the Problem of Evil

Question

How do panentheistic religions explain the existence of evil and it’s origin? If the universe is a part of God, but God still transcends it and is senteient, why would he allow evil to exist, since evil could be seen as being caused by God or imply a fallible or imperfect God.

Answer 1

It's my understanding that, for some panentheistic religions, evil is defined as the absence of God. Of course, in a sense, this just kicks the can down the road. If God created the universe and the universe constitutes all that exists, how can there be, within the universe, a state of non-existence?

Within the Faith that I grew up in, the Catholic Church, regarding certain matters, such as the concept of the trinity, I was taught that the only explanation for mortal being such as us is the 'This is a mystery', which is something of a fancy way of saying 'We just don't know'. My personal feeling was that I would rather be told that the folks in authority 'just don't know', than be offered an explanation that didn't make any sense. Of course, one could also say that 'I just don't know' is a dodge...

In any case, most religions, it seems, assert that their followers must have faith in said religion's teachings, which means that they should be accepted without subjecting them to rational thought. So, there's really no point in asking questions - at least that's at the heart of religion.