Is there any other explanation that makes as much sense? Even if we discuss a particular god of a particular sect of a particular religion we find differences and different interpretations of that "god" and its behavior among individuals in that particular group of people. They may agree on a majority of alleged characteristics but are never 100% in agreement. People who talk about god appear to be merely projecting themselves onto this human archetype.
If I worship a god that commits genocide and I explain it away by saying that my god is mysterious then obviously I approve of genocide. If I worship a god that allows children to die of cancer than obviously I approve of children dying of cancer. We shouldn't be asking someone why their god allows evil but be asking why they themselves allow evil.
The difference between a good person that does bad things and a bad person that does good things is the things those persons do. Claiming that I have a god is just my attempt to put some space between my behavior and personal accountability for same.
Your fist paragraph is spot on. That's why I don't blame religion nor am I afraid of it. Now people, I am afraid of people. I don't see one trait of man that is caused by religion. I see everything in religion caused by man. Any institution of man that gets too big tends to tread on people.
The way people reject any and all gods also tends to be a projection to me. They special plead at every turn. One fundamental atheist actually told "we are not part of a system". We are part of a larger more complex system thats just a fact. It may be alive (not a fact). Key phrase "may be", I am not saying it is. Its just the best explanation I have. "Random" is not what we see. In fact, we see a predictable path. For the most part so far.
Your genocide comment is very limiting. It is actually special pleading to me. I do not have to approve of genocide to see the need for it in some cases.
You also miss one important option. "It allows it" because it can be no other way. Maybe the people are describing the thing wrong. Like my 6 yr old stunned that I didn't know everything. The poor kid, he looked at me and said "But daddy, you know everything."... welcome to the jungle son, welcome to reality my little man.
"God" is a place holder to me too. Like dark matter and dark energy. "Dark God", there is something, I just have no idea what it is. "killing in the name of god" is a red flag. Killing a very bad person is not just killing, it is helping. So they are helping in the name of a god. What is good and bad can be discussed. But killing can be done out of love.
How a person describes the god of the bible is the best ink blot test I know. An all loving/malice god description means we have a broken person. We just need to be careful, they are land mines. To me anywayz.