What happens when people ask, 'Why does a loving God allow so much evil?' This is one of the most commonly asked questions when a disaster strikes. 

If we break the question down to smaller parts, we'll see this simple question is embroiled in many interesting, deeper questions!

  1. "loving" - How do you know God is loving?  What makes you naturally assume God is loving?
  2. "evil" - By using the word "evil" and assuming it exists, the question implies there lies an absolute moral standard somewhere. When an animal kills or rapes another, no one would ask 'why does the animal kingdom have so much evil?'. But when a human kills/rapes another, something inside us compels to ask the question. So where does the concept of evil come from? If an absolute moral standard does not exist, the question is irrelevant. The person who asks the question not only ascertains that such standard exists, but also believes it is important. 
  3. The structure of the question by logic assumes God is the opposite of evil (i.e. good). Otherwise, why would the question be asked in the first place? Again, what is the epistemological basis of such assumption?
  4. "God" - Why do we allow evil? 
  5. "allow" - the question also presupposes God is powerful enough to choose to allow evil or not allow it. In other words, God is above such moral categories. Only the Judeo-Christian scriptures explicitly state that God has this attribute. 
  6. The whole question - The question itself is irrelevant in an atheist worldview. For example, a person who doesn't believe in Santa Claus would not ask, "why doesn't Santa Claus punish naughty children?" Of course many atheists ask the question in order to challenge religious people. Yet many are also intensely bothered by this question, and some can be more frustrated by it than many religious people are. 

This is not an irrelevant question of all. In fact it is the most relevant question we all need to ask. It is also a question the whole Bible has tried to address, including evil at the personal, social, economical, political, and above all, spiritual level.

My advice to all the people who ask questions about God: Keep asking questions! And keep searching until you find the answers.