Pope Benedict XVI at Auschwitz.

The Pope visited the Auschwitz concentration camp recently and asked this question: "In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can be only a dread silence, a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?"

Let me throw this up for Christians to answer. Why did God allow it? Why did God remain silent? Why?

David Wood of Answering Infidels and I have both agreed to a public debate about this very problem, the problem of evil: Former Christian To Debate Former Atheist.

Are there any satisfactory answers available?