The problem of evil/suffering when it comes to children

[abaris]

When religious people are trying to explain why suffering and evil are allowed to exist in a Universe created by a loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful god, they generally default to some combination of "it's all our fault" and "the Lord works in mysterious ways," claiming that hardship makes us stronger and brings us closer to god.

Well, yes. So why do you even go there? It won't convince any christian otherwise. The only religious conversations I had, way back in the late 80ies and early 90ies, were about the suffering of innocents. I saw the futility of bringing up that kind of argument right there and then.