Many, if not most religions make the assumption that their god or gods are benevolent. That they are generally or entirely morally good and righteous, and look out for the well being of their followers. That's why these god's are worshipped, people try to obtain their favour and divine assistance. But is this really the case? If we observe reality and analyze religion itself, what do we find? Let's take a look.
Analyzing religion
Maybe religion started out as an attempt to make sense of reality, but it is arguably not about that anymore. Instead it seems to be more like a tool for psychological survival in a hostile and inherently meaningless world. It is also abused as a way to gain wealth and power by more cynical elites, clergy and various manipulative psychopaths.
If we look at religion in this way, there are some purposes that it serves. Many religious texts claim to know the truth about the world, how it came to be and what follows in the afterlife. The religious clergy then assert that these texts are infallible and of divine origin, and that we shouldn't question their validity, although sometimes they will attempt to provide somewhat questionable evidence to back up their claims. If people accept this and believe, it can sometimes provide them with some psychological stability and certainty, as they outsource part of their thinking to this religious dogma. They may not do this intentionally, knowing the texts are false. But people are led to genuinely believe due to various reasons. For example it could be due to childhood indoctrination or having religious experiences that may seem to support part of the religious teachings.
Another so called benefit of religion in terms of survival is that it creates stronger social bonds and in group preferences between believers. This increases social cohesion and allows these religious groups to better resist potentially hostile outsiders, or even to attack others and take their resources, as they are perceived to be evil heretics or unbelievers. The Abrahamic faiths have resulted in particularly destructive behaviour. They do not have much regard for the well being of the natural world in their doctrines. They all predict the end of the world in their scriptures, which may turn out to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Basically religion may have initially evolved as humans became more intelligent and curious about the world, so they wanted to explain various natural phenomena. We were no longer satisfied with simply existing, consuming and procreating, as most animals are. So religion could have been a primitive attempt at explaining reality. But with the advent of science and technology, many of these religious and mystical theories have been disproven, and many others remain unproveable.
Observing reality
However, what if there really is some kind of most high god that created the universe? Well, you can know an artist by their artwork. So let's take a look at the structure of reality, and see what we can conclude about this god's character.
First of all, there is no evidence any of us asked to be born. We were simply thrown into this world regardless of our consent or agreement. Our parents forced us to be born due to their biological instincts and cultural influences, as did their parents before them, and so on. Then life with all of its struggles and challenges was imposed on us, and we had no say in any of it.
Secondly, suffering is the default state of life. Every conscious living being in this world has to endure suffering, some more, some less. Even if we do nothing, eventually we will get bored, thirsty or hungry. If we still do nothing, the suffering will increase. So we have to work and sometimes fight other conscious beings to sustain our meatsuits and avoid suffering. This suffering is also reoccurring, it will never permanently go away as long as we live. But pleasure, which we use to cope with suffering, is not reoccurring by itself, it is fleeting and vanishes as fast as it came. We must seek pleasure again, and again. But if we do it too much, we get bored and require novelty, we need new pleasures to satisfy us. The same can not be said for pain, we don't get bored or even numb from too much pain, life just gets worse. Also, most often it is the weak and innocent who endure the most suffering, while the strong generally thrive at their expense.
Thirdly, extinction is the norm, survival is the exception. Most species that have existed on Earth have gone extinct. In the animal kingdom it is normal to suffer and die due to many reasons such as disease, injury, starvation or predation. For example sometimes only 1 out of 10,000 baby sea turtles survive into adulthood. Death is our destiny, even though our life is spent avoiding it.
Fourth, there is no inherent purpose to life that we can reasonably discern through logic and science. We survive and reproduce because our biological instincts drive us to do these things, and only those who follow these instincts will have offspring who continue the cycle of life and suffering. Many religions obviously claim to have divine knowledge of the true purpose of life, for example to serve god or strive to enter Nirvana by living a spiritual life. But none of them can actually prove these claims, it is a matter of faith.
Fifth, there is no easy or guaranteed way out of this world. Whoever or whatever created existence, did not install an off button whereby we could easily and peacefully leave, like you would have in a video game or simulation. We are instead held hostage by our biology, the survival instinct, and our fear of pain. Religion adds an additional layer of fear on top of this, the idea of hell or some other scary afterlife.
Conclusion
Basically this world seems more like some kind of prison system that we are all forced to participate in. We are held captive by our biology and we end up gaslighting ourselves to value or appreciate this existence, it's a necessity for survival and reproduction to be somewhat life affirming. Then there's no easy or guaranteed way out, nor do I suggest anyone take matters into their own hands, this can easily fail and result in more suffering.
With all of this in mind, I have trouble believeing that any benevolent or good creator god would construct such a world. Personally I remain an agnostic dystheist. I propose three possibilities regarding god. Either god is indifferent to our struggles, as the god of deism would be, or god is at least partially malevolent and may enjoy our suffering. I consider a partially malevolent god to be more likely as this reality is geared more toward suffering than pleasure, it's not even close to 50/50. The last option in my view would be that there is no god.