Excellently thoughtful article on why God allows suffering on the BBC website, here

At least as interesting as the piece are the responses to it. I find one particularly gut-wrenching. It begins:

"As an Anglican, I always had presumed that God is too big, if you like, too omnipotent to even vaguely notice humanity."

Hmmm, dealing with the age old, anguished, questions of suffering and evil by positing that God doesn't care about - or even notice - humanity, and identifying that as "Anglican". Praise God for my many Anglican friends and colleagues who deal with the issue with a good deal more biblical insight and pastoral sensitivity than that.