The Compassion Forum and God

On April 13, CNN Hosted a Compassion Forum with Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton (John McCain was absent for some reason). CNN had the guests and the hosts ask the candidates questions related to religion. The co-host Jon Meachem asked this question:

Senator [Clinton], we've heard about HIV/AIDS. Many people here are concerned about Darfur and a number of other humanitarian issues. Why do you think it is that a loving God allows innocent people to suffer?

This is the Problem of Evil question paraphrased which is: God is good. God is omnipotent. Evil exists. Well, I believe, evil exists because evil is part of man. Man is both good and bad. We choose which path to take. And since governments are composed by men they can do evil too--even worse since they have power. That is why America's founding fathers created the Bill of Rights--to protect the citizens from a possible corrupt totalarist government. James Madison said it best in the Federalist Papers:

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

The reader might ask why does not God stop evil in its tracks? Because that's is what freewill is for. God expects and wants people to be good. If individual people cannot stop evil on their own then benevolent freedom-loving gov'ts have to. Just like the Allied Forces did in World War II. Isn't that what the United Nations was for? To stop another World War? They have dropped the ball badly.

The Problem of Evil question is really too deep to be asking at a forum like this. There is not enough time to answer it. I probably did not do it justice. Then a question was asked which candidate would God endorse. A really dumb question. That is like asking which NBA team does God like. God does not play favorites.