Benevolence is not the same as Justness
Just a small note: The problem of evil is the worry that an all-knowing, all-powerful, wholly benevolent God cannot exist if there is evil in the world.
But it's not clear how damaging this worry is. Why can't believers acknowledge that God is not benevolent? This doesn't make God evil, or unjust, or wrong. Unless, that is, we assume some kind of utilitarian view, but I suspect that most believers are opposed to that kind of view anyway.
I take it that the justness of God is the central tenet believers want to retain, not the benevolence. Perhaps that allows them to acknowledge the existence of evil without tension in their view.
If God is not benevolent
If God is not benevolent then why love Him? Why worship Him? You may respect His power and His knowledge but it is His goodness that believers want to believe in because it makes the suffering of life worthwhile for them. Without that, He is nothing.
You think like a philosopher, you assume a lack of contradiction in the belief is important to the believer. This is an error.
Perfection
I take it the traditional conception of God is meant to be that of the perfect being. Insofar as that includes moral perfection, benevolence is surely part of it. A "just" God who doesn't care to relieve gratuitous suffering does not seem particularly perfect or even admirable to me.
In any case, isn't there something unjust about gratuitous suffering? The victims deserve better, and may be said to lack their "just deserts". Their loved ones could reasonably lament that the world is "unfair" to inflict such suffering on such a good person. And so on.
I don't think we have to go
I don't think we have to go so far as perfection to worry about a sharp distinction between benevolence and justice, since one possible position to take (it's the position of Thomas Aquinas, for instance) is that benevolence and justice are not the same, but benevolence requires justice and justice requires benevolence. It does certainly seem to be the case that benevolence requires justice; it seems to make little sense to say that you have good will toward someone and yet don't care whether they are treated unjustly, or treat others unjustly. So, one might argue, it makes sense to say that the relationship here is symmetrical: you can't be just without benevolence, since part of what's due to others is good will.
It's interesting that all
It's interesting that all three of you want to contest the idea that justice doesn't require benevolence. This is something I completely agree with: I can't imagine many of you fail to notice that I have some utilitarian sympathies, and to this extent I'm not sure if justice is anything more than benevolence.
But there are respectable positions far away from here. I'm imagining a kind of libertarian believer, who thinks that God acts justly so long as he doesn't deliberately harm anyone, and respects their property, and so on (perhaps he's even a little benevolent in giving some of his property away). If this is what you understand to be the truth of the matter regarding justice, then I'm not sure that the Problem of Evil is a problem.
Perhaps you think that this conception of morality is obviously false, or that God would anyway be imperfect or unadmirable if he displayed only this anaemic sense of moral responsibility. That's hardly unreasonable, but I think the point is interesting nonetheless.
Alex
I think a lot of people
I think a lot of people believe in this way - they're just not Christians. The idea that there is some powerful creative force that is everywhere within our world but doesn't take much interest in us, neither harming nor helping, appeals to many. This is not the sort of God you worship, it is more the sort of thing you try to accept and 'be at one with'. But that doesn't help those with a traditional Christian view of God to solve the problem of Evil.
3 little thoughts
1 - God is amoral thus people think he's imoral
2 - God only gives you what you need not what you want hence we believe he's not benevolent - or capricious at least.
3 - There is no God.
I always thought
I always thought the traditional defence of religious people regarding evil in the world was that though God is entirely benevolent, he wants us to have free will so we can choose our own destinies, blah blah. Quite how allowing people to die of bubonic plague is necessary for free will I'm not sure, but nevermind. Maybe God is allowing plague bacteria to fufill their destiny.