- evil ˈiːv(ə)l,-vɪl/
adjective
- profoundly immoral and wicked.
"his evil deeds"
synonyms:- wicked, bad, wrong, morally wrong, wrongful, immoral, sinful, ungodly, unholy, foul, vile, base, ignoble, dishonourable, corrupt, iniquitous, depraved, degenerate, villainous, nefarious, sinister, vicious, malicious, malevolent, demonic, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, fiendish, dark, black-hearted
- profoundly immoral and wicked.
For Muslims the concept of evil is personified in Iblis, the Islamic version of the Christian Devil or Lucifer, who rebeled against Allah and, cast out of paradise, promised to tempt humanity towards the evil of turning away from the path of the almighty one.
Jews have a similar view to Muslims, but also maintain that good follows from actively seeking moral choices and evil follows succumbing to one's base urges, usually at the behest of Satan.
For Hindus evil is created as a force when an individual acts against dharma, which is held to be a universal natural force and the source of all virtue and something in which each individual shares a portion - thus when one acts against one's dharma one is acting against the universe and evil influences are created in the world.
According to the Zoroastrian tradition, Angra Mainyu, the embodiment of all human frailties and flaws, is a character who subjugates the weak willed and tortures them emotionally and physically once they fall under his malign spell. Angra Mainyu is a total anti-god who has the power to created situations as well as evil minions to assist him in his despicable work.
Adherents to Jainism take a different view while sharing some common ground with other Eastern traditions. Good acts and bad acts are weighed in the balance and where one has more entries in the good column happiness and enlightenment follow, and where one has more entries in the bad column misery and pain ensues. Jainism loosely ties the notion of evil to the absence of personal virtue.
So, according to the Abrahamic faiths atheist are fundamentally evil by dint of rejecting the authority of God when they reject unsupported claims and assertions for God's existence. So yes, from this religious perspective atheists are evil by definition, because they are non-believers, non-followers, and non-obeyers. Hindus say that evil is created when one doesn't fulfil the obligations of dharma as explained in their texts and as interpreted by their holy officiates. Zoroastrians share common ground with Judaism and Islam in as much as bad behaviour and things are a function of an evil intermediary or Devil figure, and Jainists seek to eliminate the karmic bookkeeping of good and bad entirely in order to transcend the cycle of birth-death-rebirth. With the exception of Jainism goodness and virtue are a function of religious adherence.
So, if some are to maintain that atheists are fundamentally evil--which is to say that everyone and anyone who does not believe the claims and assertions of the religions above, or of any religion, is 'inherently evil' or 'evil by default'--and if to be evil is to be, at the very least, 'profoundly immoral and wicked', what is the proper authority to determine the basis and bounds of good and evil, and from where is that authority drawn?