A criticism of this is that of the Fall of man in Genesis, where Adam and Eve through choice sinned against God and upset the perfect world. This sin has been passed down from father and son and is the reason why, according to Christians, the world is in the chaos of today.
Mills explains that within nature there are many actions taken by animals in the wild that humans would be punished for by law, and a God who creates this type of unordered evil and misery, must himself be malevolent.
This criticism is dubious however as it compares animals, with no conscience of right and wrong, with humanity that has a soul. Animals do not think about killing, about whether it is right or wrong. They have no good or bad intentions. Mills also assumes that just because the world is unordered that a God didn’t design it. This contradicts Paley’s watch theory that suggests that something that has a design, order and purpose doesn’t have to work. This can also be said for the goodness argument – something that has a design doesn’t necessarily have to be entirely good.
Mill’s does not believe that there is a God and that the imperfection and chaos proves that there is no design and therefore no designer.
Another criticism of Mills for Paley’s teleological design argument is that if there is a God that designed the world why does Paley assume that it is the Judeo-Christian God? And what evidence is there to say there aren’t many Gods who created the world?
This is a valid point, but it is justifiable for Paley to argue for his belief such as Mill’s is justified in expressing his belief that there is no God. Nobody has expressed Mill’s bias towards atheism.
