I never got much deeper into theodicy than the exchange in Time Bandits
where the
kid asks God (played by Ralph Richardson): “Why did you create evil?” God:
“Oh, I forget. Something to do with free will, I think.”
Horrors like the S. Asian tsunami have very little to do with free will, of
course, and much more to do with the great cold indifference of the
universe. Very hard to square with an involved Deity. I can’t do it
myself, yet I am constitutionally unable to NOT believe in that Deity. I
think I’ll go lie down for a while.