The basic answer to the problem of evil given by the classic view is that no evil takes place unless God permits it, and that God has a good reason for permitting each evil, which takes the form of a greater good that he uses the evil to bring about. Of course this greater good principle, as it is often called, is far from a complete answer to the problem of evil. It does not tell us how to find out what is the greater good that gives meaning to each particular evil we suffer. But it does say something