Auschwitz for a greater good?

I watched Frank Cottrell Boyce's God on Trial on BBC2 last week, and found it a powerful piece of drama. It explored in a compelling way many of the responses, both theological and sceptical, to the question of God's 'whereabouts' at Auschwitz, putting them in the mouths of a group of camp inmates all played with dramatic sobriety and passion.

It's hard, however, to stomach this piece of reasoning from Justin Thacker - head of theology at the Evangelical Alliance - taking off from that excellent production. While there's no strictly theological answer to the crime of the Nazis that as an atheist I can find persuasive, there are some at least that are troubled by the enormity of that crime and recognize in it a source of moral disturbance. For Thacker, glib comparison is all we need. Children trust their parents even when the latter participate in imposing on them some painful medical procedure. In exactly the same way, for people of faith...

...even though they may not be able to explain why God would allow this particular event to occur, they know that the God who on countless other occasions has demonstrated his love and compassion must have a reason.

Again:

... all that is required to reconcile God's love, power and the presence of suffering is merely the presence of some reason that may or may not be fully accessible to them, but that nevertheless justifies God (like the parent) in allowing some tragedy to occur for the sake of a greater good.

I believe in no kind of God. Still, there is a world of difference between a God who strengthens people's belief and resolution in the struggle against injustice, a God, even, who gives people courage in the face of loss or other adversity, and one who reconciles the faithful to an acceptance of human barbarism, gives them the satisfaction of knowing that He has a reason for allowing it, justifies it indeed by reference to some 'greater good'. This is the theological equivalent of a political apologia for genocide and worth about as much respect.