The God of survival

The October 1 issue of Newsweek has an interesting letter in it. It raised a challenge that I'm still thinking about. The letter to which I refer is the one that starts on page 18; it is signed by a Kevin Paulson of New York. The problem posed is on the nature of a God who would use natural selection as a means to create. Many of us religious types believe in a loving God, especially one who favors the weak. How then could such a God use a method of creation that overtly favors the strong?
Mr. Paulson says there is no middle ground. Either you believe in a God, as he does, who created the world pretty much as the Bible says, or you believe that species developed by a process (evolution) where only the strong survive. What do we say to that?
The answer must lie somewhere in the greatness and inscrutability of God. This question is in the same bucket as, "Why did God create so many dead-end species?" or "If human beings are the pinnacle of creation, what took God so long to get to this point?" Does God have a playful side that makes no sense to us? I remember reading a paragraph from G. K. Chesterton that speculated that God has a childlike interest in this creation.
This is not entirely satisfactory. Nor is the idea that creation is broken because of human sin. I guess we'll have to think more on this.