“He created us,” I hear you say, “so that means he can do what he wants.”

There’s nothing more infuriating than encountering that kind of mentality.

I’ve never understood why the same moral principles that apply to us shouldn’t also apply to God himself.

I’ve asked believers to give me a plausible explanation for why God doesn’t magic more loaves and fishes into existence in order to feed the 800 million people in the world who do not have enough to eat.

A common response I get is that God expects us to feed them. We supposedly have enough resources to end world hunger if we wanted to. It’s a test, then, to see if we’ll do the right thing — as if it’s fair to let people starve to death just to put other people’s morality to the test.

But this excuse fails because we, each of us, have a moral imperative to help ease the suffering of others. If you choose to ignore your moral responsibility, that doesn’t absolve me of mine.

Suppose you’re a pilgrimage, walking many hundreds of miles. There are many hundreds of people making the journey with you. On the side of the road is a man suffering dehydration. If he doesn’t get water in the next day, he’ll die.

Hundreds of people have walked past him already, and none of them have offered to share their water.

Does their inaction — their moral failing — mean it’s okay for you to do the same?

No. You are compelled to help this man regardless of how everyone else is behaving.

So why doesn’t the same standard apply to God?

God has a moral responsibility to help those in need, just as we all do. If every human on the planet chooses to ignore their moral duty, that doesn’t change God’s moral obligation.

Believers like to tell us that we’re all God’s children.

But if a parent allowed their child to starve to death out of neglect, you’d arrest them for felony murder and send them to prison for 10-15 years.