(Job and his friends: a picture of undeserved suffering and questioning friends)

A reason given by atheists and agnostics who reject God is that religious people can’t answer the question,  “Why is there so much suffering, pain, and evil in the world if God exists?”

I think that is a fair question. But here is my own question (actually a series of questions):

How do  atheists/agnostics explain or deal with suffering? Or do they even try?

Do atheists/agnostics even talk in terms of evil?  Is that a concept that makes sense?

Here is the reason I ask: As far as I can tell from the atheists I have read, evolution is the major force at work in “creating” the world. While I realize that evolutionary theory is now much more complex than the “survival of the fittest” explanation, that explanation still lies at the heart of what drives the evolutionary process.  So things like Tsunamis wiping out large numbers of people could simply be attributed to the fact that the people were foolish enough to live along a coastline.  In this case the world is telling us that coastlines are dangerous places to live and that those who choose safer places to live are more likely to survive.  If one group of people commits genocide against another group of people, that is simply an evolutionary step in getting rid of the less powerful people and making more room for the successful.  So would it be appropriate to call genocide evil?  Most atheists I know would object to genocide on moral grounds, but I don’t really understand those moral grounds.  So I am asking.  I really hope I get some thoughtful answers, because I really do want to understand.