One of the roles of religion is to answer questions: Where did we come from? Where are we going? How should we behave on the journey? And among the most troubling and significant, how can evil exist in a world created and loved by a benevolent God? Classical Judeo-Christian answers have relied on free will; God gave humans the gift of choice, and sometimes human choices lead to evil.¹

Popular culture, too, can offer answers to questions about the meaning of life. Alongside all the action and emotion and fun of Supernatural are a suggested explanation for the existence of evil and a proposal for how humanity should respond to it. At the core of Supernatural is the belief that good and evil are both profoundly “natural,” the result of human choice. The philosophy of Supernatural agrees with Judeo-Christian theology that the line between good and evil lies within the human heart.

“Of Course You Should Be Afraid of the Dark”: Evil On Supernatural

“Don’t be afraid of the dark?” What, are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what’s out there! (“Pilot”)

—Dean Winchester, “Pilot”

From the first episode of Supernatural one thing is clear: evil is real. A shadowy figure stands over a baby’s crib; a young mother is pinned, bleeding, to the ceiling; a fire erupts and destroys a home; and a previously ordinary family takes to the road to fight “what’s out there.” In the world of Supernatural, evil is no mere  …