Seems like an odd question, but I've been thinking about this ever since I read a thriller called "The Armageddon Conspiracy" by mike hockney in which a group of people plot to kill God. The book presents the Gnostic view of history and this amounts to a belief that the material world was created by an evil demon (Satan) for the purpose of entrapping souls. Since it says in the Bible that "God" created the earth then "God" must be Satan. The True God, meanwhile, lives in a spiritual paradise that has no connection with the earth. It's the task of a Gnostic to see reality as it really is and acquire the secret knowledge (gnosis) to allow his soul to be freed from its prison in this world and return to heaven.

The curious thing is that the "God" worshipped by Christians, Jews and Muslims is, according to the Gnostics, pure evil. Isn't it totally amazing that billions of people worship a God that some people believe to be the very quintessence of wickedness? Judging by some of the things that Christians, Jews and Muslims inflict on their fellow human beings (mass murder, torture, inquisition, suicide bombings, massacres, death camps etc), don't the Gnostics have a very good case?

One of the reaons that religion is so absurd is that it frequently allows the precise opposite views to be arrived at from precisely the same theological "facts". The Gnostics and the Christians both accept that "God" created the earth, but the former conclude that this was an act of supreme evil while the latter celebrate it as a great and glorious thing. Same "facts" - entirely different conclusions. Religion is plainly just a matter of interpretation, opinion and taste. There are no objective standards whatever. Some religions can actually contain diametrically opposed views...how is it possible for an extreme capitalist and an extreme left winger to both claim that they are good Christians obeying God's will? At least one must be wholly wrong.

In democratic terms, no religion on earth commands the allegiance of more than about 16% of the world's population (Catholic Christianity and non-Catholic Christianity must, of course, be considered as separate religions since they have precious little in common). So, whatever set of beliefs you choose to adopt, at least 84% of the world's population say you're wrong. Isn't it bizarre that people who trumpet the wonders of democracy, reject utterly the precepts of democracy in terms of religion? The democratic verdict regarding every religion is that it's wrong. In political terms, people are willing to accept the majority view. In religion, they reject it utterly. How weird!! Shouldn't the fact that no matter what religion they belong to, religious believers are in a tiny minority, cause them pause for thought and make them question their beliefs?

No. God is not evil, mankind is evil. And stupid.

Who created mankind, designed our brains, and put souls in us, knowing exactly how we would behave?

that is an argument that could go round in circles, sadly there is no deontological proof either way about this. all we can do is weigh up evidence.

personally i would consider the following.

1) god is all loving.
2) god is all powerfull.
3) god is evil.

therefore you have a choice that cannot be made by any one person. god cannot be all three points, as they would cancel out, if god was all loving and all powerfull and evil then he would have the power to over come the good or evil within himself, after all there is no limmet on 'all powerfull'. he is either all powerfull and all loving, all powerfull and evil, or all loving and evil (usually considered to mean self loving, as this would allow him to be loving and evil). your choice is between a god that is powerfull and wants to harm us, one that is powerfull and wants to love us, or one that is weak.
now consider that a weak god is not applicable becouse (assuming creatonisam for the time being) he had a hand in the creation of the world. this means that if he was all loving he would have created a perfect world where not harm came to any of us. it is accsepted that if you love someone you do not wish them harm on any level outher then the superficial (you might think that you want to harm them, but deep down you could not). but the world is not like this, it is a place where much harm comes to people every day, therefore the logical thought would be that god must be evil.
the only defence that i can see to this that has no flaws (and i might be wrong, this is my own theory) is that god must love humanity as a whole, and so we learn from the pain of outhers.

i knwo that this does not nessaseraly answer the question, but it is what i think on the subjectof god as evil or good, and might give outher people something to think about.