I have long grappled with understanding the origins of evil. The events unfolding in Iran offer a stark example.

Millions have taken to the streets, bravely demanding their basic human rights, in addition to such simple conditions as clean water in their homes and the necessities to provide for their families. As it stands now, one U.S. dollar is valued at about 42,000 Iranian rials.

But what they are really after—what causes a pain in their hearts with a yearning so incandescently profound—is freedom. Freedom to walk about the street without a hijab. Freedom to criticize their repressive government. Freedom to pray or to not, anyway they want.

These protesters have faced brutal violence; those wounded are often targeted again in hospitals by agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Grief echoes through morgues and cemeteries, where vibrant young Iranians, full of promise, have been senselessly taken, like saplings cut down before their time.

The regime claims 5,000 deaths, which is a baseline. The National Union for Democracy in Iran uses the 40,000 number. Because of the internet blackout, it is difficult to ascertain actual numbers.

Whatever the staggering figure, it represents not only the cost of inflation but also the countless lives impacted by systemic oppression. The persistence of such evil raises profound questions: Is it rooted in the ambitions of those in power or the silent complicity of those who look away? While many hope for change, the daily reality is shaped by fear and resilience, as families cling to hope amid uncertainty and loss.

The presence of evil, in this context, seems both overwhelming and deeply personal, touching every aspect of life for those who dare to demand dignity and justice.

Turning to Africa: On Feb. 3, Islamist jihadists from Boko Haram entered the village of Woro in Nigeria, massacring the entire village of 75 people. They killed men, women and children, and set the village aflame. This was a moderate Muslim village. Christians, however, have also been massacred with unparalleled relish. The Council on Foreign Relations Nigeria Security Tracker estimates 100,000 deaths since 2011.

In Sudan, since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), is a paramilitary force that has waged war on the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Abdul Fattah al-Burhan. The RSF arose out of the Janjaweed, a radical armed force slaughtering Christians and non-extremist Arabs. The United Nations and the World Health Organization have put the death toll at 40,000.

In the 43% of land that Hamas controls in the Gaza Strip, the terrorist group treats informers for Israel and Palestinian Authority security forces as traitors and security threats, subjecting them to summary executions, severe torture or arbitrary detention.

What gives anyone the license for such indiscriminate acts of pure evil?

There is a debate between Christopher Browning, a historian and professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who emphasizes societal pressure to conform to their peers, obedience to authority and the numbing, brutalizing effects of war. It is much like historian and philosopher Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil” concept, which posits that atrocities, such as those committed during World War II and the Holocaust, are not exclusively committed by monsters or fanatics but by ordinary, conformist bureaucrats who surrender their capacity to think critically.

That contrasts with Daniel Goldhagen, an author and former associate professor of government and social studies at Harvard University, who argues that there is a strong ideological component to the perpetrators. He points out that antisemitism had long been embedded in German culture, and that ideology—not mere conformity or obedience to authority—was the compelling force. He also notes the exceptional cruelty the murderers displayed and the initiative they took in carrying out their barbaric task.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks called this “altruistic evil,” a dehumanizing psychology that people use to justify the murder of another human being. Many use the exclusivity of their faith as a justification to look at the “other” as not deserving of life.

It’s time that the world confronts the evil of our times, especially when used in the name of religion.

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