This is proof that a very well read man can be dicustingly narrow minded. God does not punish innocent children. Their parents however do get punished for their sins through their children. And some of you will say, why doesn't God punish their parents directly? Because that's the easy way out. That does not make them search for help or forgivness from Him for their own free-willed mistakes! Does stephen fry actually know for sure that if cancer children die, they will suffer? What if someone would show him that those children's souls will live in a state beyond our limited happiness here on earth? What kind of stupid questions will he come up with? God does not think in terms of our limited life here on earth. He sees the bigger picture, past present and future, and knows exactly what kind of suffering to allow unto people so that they can indirectly repent for their sins and not go to hell and be tormented. Most of the time this happens because He knows certain people will refuse to repent by their own free will. But by enduring a limited suffering, their souls will be saved! Years of cancer are nothing compared to immortality without suffering. And what if their parents will also have immortality without suffering alongside their lost children, just because they endured so much suffering here on earth for their sins? God is so superficially and wrongly understood to the point of stupidity. Do some reading of orthodox christianity before even thinking that you can comprehend God's choices! Every suffering that He allows unto people on earth, has echoes in eternity and will be ransomed with more that we can ever conceive, but we have to deserve it. Just as you fight for anything in this life to deserve it, you need to fight for His love and for a place alongside Him. There is way too much at stake and it saddens me how angry people are these days at something they don't even bother to understand. You can't both hate God and not acknowledge His existence. Just because you are intelligent doesn't give you the right to have the nerve of saying how dare you to a being that wants to save you from your own mistakes! He will always respect our free will. This is the reason why he went along with creating us even though he knew we would deceive him. He will never force us to do anything because that's tirrany. We need to choose by ourselves to live the way He knows is best for our souls and to trust Him just like children trust their parents when they grow up.