I think this is a very interesting set of questions from peaceful. Im afraid this is quite a long response because I wanted to do them justice.
Starting with the scientist question. Why do we not resent their contribution to suffering as much as we say we would resent gods? As peaceful says, their ethics are no better than anyone elses and their work can lead to terrible consequences. Many scientists do develop terrible things. The classic of course is the quote by Einstein: If I had known, I would have been a butcher, meaning: if he had known that nuclear weapons would be derived from his research, he would never have done it: he would have rather not used his intellect and gone into the family trade of being a butcher.
Why is it that some ppl think that scientists are more likely to be right about faith than other groups? If we go back not even very long in European society (am ignorant of how it was elsewhere) we saw that the simple folk, as it were, were seen as having good insight into matters of faith and ethics, just as much as the educated folk. Now partly, this was a sentimental construct based on the fact that there were an awful lot of simpler folk. Partly ppl didnt even mean it, as there was plenty of horror about the dissolute working man, gin, etc. But there was perhaps less sense that scientists ought to be our touchstone for intelligent judgment.
From my own POV I would start by saying that I think the faith vs science thing is not all that compelling to me. Although I personally accept that changes to the account of creation that are necessary now that we grasp evolution, I dont see that as a problem for ppl of faith. Creation myths are supposed to be simplified. They were told in a very different time, to a very different society, and they appeal to the imagination and the emotions by presenting a parable, if you like, of what actually happened. As you get into more theoretical science, especially higher maths and physics, I think that the amount of unknowable, highly complex stuff that has to be posited in order to do any science requires a mindset able to grasp and work with mystery and uncertainty. I am not at all surprised by the data that seem to show that physicists are more likely (though still not very likely) to be ppl of faith than ppl who work with largely observed data such as biologists and engineers. But actually I dont especially take my views of faith from scientists. As peaceful says, they are often in no position to complain about the creation of suffering in the world. And I dont think they are necessarily cleverer than the rest of us. More specialised, perhaps. Cleverer? Well I dont think there is such a thing as clever for all purposes, so no.
Turning to the issue of suffering. peaceful asks if it is a reasonable thing to expect a utopia with no suffering; and she points out that the vast majority of suffering is not caused by god. She says that atheists take the position they do because they misunderstand the complexity of creation.
I would want to deal with the vast majority point first. We touched on it upthread. In my view, this is a bit like saying that a man who beats his children every Friday night is lovely to them the rest of the week. Even one example of unjust suffering directly caused by gods actions is enough. It is either true or it isnt. It cant be true for me because of my own child but not true for another person because their child recovered. It is the case, of course, that we have the power to do ourselves more harm by our own deliberate acts, or by acts where we dont foresee the consequences, than anything god does to us. I gave examples upthread- war, starvation caused by war and/or overpopulation, natural disasters affecting places we have decided to live in, disability caused by consanguinity, cruelty of man to others whether caused by mental illness or not: there are many forms of suffering which are entirely self-inflicted wounds by humanity.
But there are also undeniable examples of suffering which are instrinsic to creation. My own example is the position of a child disabled by a genetic mutation- not caused by marriage to close relations, or by environmental factors created by humans, but by a random recombination of genes during conception, which itself is intrinsic to genetic recombination, the method created by god to allow for reproduction by all living things. This is not me being clever: it is my own position, as ppl know, and I know many, many families in this position. We may be invisible to a lot of folk, but we are not immaterial.
I personally believe that this is caused by chance. The question is, would I be reasonable to say to god that I expected a better system, one which did not have this level of fall-out at the individual level, when he designed creation? peaceful I think suggests I would not be reasonable: either it is too big an ask, or there is some hidden merit in suffering which I dont yet understand.
I take a different view. I think that if we thank god for sunrise and harvest and beauty and intelligence in our children, we must also hold him accountable for disability and mental and physical illness which were directly caused by him. We cant cherry pick and say god is only associated with the things we happen to like.
There are faiths where there is a belief that the good god(s) are not always in charge: evil gods have power too and take over. In Christianity this was seen as heretical and ppl got burned for it. I dont know how that argument is seen in Islam, Im afraid. If my faith taught that, perhaps I would have less conflict over suffering.
I have written before how I see the argument that its a mystery/god is entitled to do as he wishes with us. Again, let us assume that I kidnap 30 children and I farm them for their organs, giving away their kidneys, corneas, etc and eventually killing them, after much suffering, to give away their hearts and lungs. I cannot expect any sympathy if I point to the number of other children who are now healthy having received those organs. I will be jailed, or hanged depending on where I live, for murdering and torturing those 30 children, and quite right too. I feel the same, Im afraid, about gods right to disabled my child for some benefit to others.
And the mystery thing makes me terribly uncomfortable. The idea that god can do what he likes to us, and we should just be grateful when he stops, if he chooses to stop, and in the meantime the proper response is love and obedience: well, thats not the kind of father I would want to worship.