[deertick1]

Just wanted to chime in here with a book suggestion : "The Problem if Pain" by C.S. Lewis.

Tackles this problem from a christian apologista perspective. Its about as intellectual an analysis as you are going to get on this subject matter. I personally don't agree with 100% of it, but Lewis always presents arguments I never would have considered otherwise. Worth a read.

Also, listening to scientists and engineers discuss issues of morality (e.g. this comments section) is always a painful experience. The analytical mind is not often applied appropriately to matters of philosophy. At least thats my impression.

[exo-pla-net]

The linked article presents the theistic counterarguments to The Problem of Evil, such as those espoused by C.S. Lewis.

Here is an example of what C.S. Lewis has to say in his book: "If the universe is so bad… how on earth did human beings ever come to attribute it to the activity of a wise and good Creator? Men are fools, perhaps, but hardly so foolish as that."

Perhaps I am a small-minded engineer, but that seems like an incredibly weak argument. The linked article, on the other hand, presents the best of the counter-arguments; I don't think C.S. Lewis adds anything of value.

[AnimalMuppet]

That's taking one sentence from one argument from the book, and finding it weak. You should compare the strongest arguments from the article to the strongest arguments from the book, not to the weakest.