A man went to a barber shop to have his hair and his beard cut as always. He started to have a good conversation with the barber who attended him.

They talked about so many things and various subjects. Suddenly, they touched the subject of God.

The barber said "Look man, I don't believe that God exists as you say."

"Why do you say that?" asked the client.

"Well, it's so easy, all you have to do is go out in the street to realize that God does not exist. Oh, tell me, if God existed, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children?

If God existed, there would be no suffering nor pain. I can't think of loving a God who permits all of these things."

The client stopped for a moment thinking, but didn't want to respond so as not to cause an argument. The barber finished his job and the client left the shop.

Just after leaving the barber shop he saw a man in the street with long hair and beard (it seems that it had been a long time since he had his cut and he looked so untidy).

The client went back in the shop and said to the barber "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say they don't exist?" asked the barber. "Well, I am here and am a barber."

"No!" the client exclaimed. "They don't exist because if they did there would be no people with long hair and beard like that man who walks in the street."

"Ah, barbers do exist, what happens is that people do not come to me."

"Exactly!" -- affirmed the client. "That's the point. God does exist. What happens is people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Absence of proof is not proof of absence.