My three-year old told me that God is mean.  It seems that she prayed that He would make our house fly, and He didn’t.

This is one illustration of the problem of evil that won’t trouble anyone. Does anyone really believe that a just and loving God would make houses fly on request? No. It troubles the three-year old, but we have the perspective she lacks.

Cosmically speaking, we are all three-year olds. We lack not only God’s perspective, but even the perspective and experience of a low-grade angel.

P.S. I just realized some might read this as an implied commentary on the Japan disaster. It is not. When something awful happens like in Japan, our immediate duty is to help if we can and mourn with those who mourn if we can’t. Attempts to turn disaster into a little moral homily on the truth of atheism (by atheists) or on the many benefits of trials and tribulations (by theists) are equally disasteful. I will remove any comments that try to use Japan as argument fodder.