Questions like this fade away when it is realized that theres nothing out there influencing those things.....its just that life really sucks sometimes.

I once did programming work at a company that does work for that organization that calls it self St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I still can't comprehend how all of that is going on and "god" is doing that.

Yeah,,, in gods world he gets to make the rules. People use to say that innocents were damned by the sin of the parents.....or that the devil had claimed the child.....end results were if it was good....then it was gods goodness...if bad it was you or the devil....and responsibility could always be passed off,,in fact it was required.....if you did something admirable...you couldn't take credit, you were just following gods will, or god had "blessed" you with a talent... on the other hand, if you did something "bad", it was the devil made you do it. ....problem with giving away responsibility, is the guilt you take on.

I'm a little skeptical that De Sade said this, as I don't think the term "brain cancer" was in use in his lifetime. However, no matter ... it is a good question with no good answer other than, there IS no such being, in heaven or elsewhere.

That said, I don't lack belief in gods because I might not like gods; I lack belief because there's no evidence to support the notion and I require substantiation for my beliefs. If god were unjust, indifferent, or cruel, in reality or just by my lights, I'd be obliged to believe in him if he could be evidenced to exist.

Said "God" (based on the theistic intervening definition of god) must have made the baby so...

I’ve noticed that when you stump them with that (or it’s equivalent) ..they’ll remind you of their ‘devil.’ They attribute the bad stuff to ‘him.’ So instead of funding cancer research, these sorry people pray ..to increase their god’s imaginary ‘healing power’..

i understand where this idea comes from, but there is a trap in this line of thinking. the thing is, it doesn't lead to a disbelief in god. it just leads to a disbelief in a JUST god. worse, it leads theists to believe atheists are just mad at god (implying that atheists are not being honest about a disbelief in any gods). i am convinced there are no gods, just, unjust or disinterested. that makes me an atheist. if i then gave the above as part of my reasoning, i would be betraying a dishonesty, perhaps with myself, about being an atheist, or about what an atheist is. so it appears to make a good point but it's not an atheistic concept. that's okay, if that's what you mean to express, and the marquis was certainly not the only person to think of it or say it, but i just want to point out that it does not get weighed on the atheistic side of the scale of belief or disbelief. it puts an ounce or a pound on the other side. (god exists but he's bad.)

g

Yes, it never surprises me how religious people answer that one either.