Not this atheist author

In a post at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, Ed Brayton quotes a religious wingnut who thinks, or at least says, that atheists don't exist. I won't run the whole thing down here. You can read Ed's original post to get the dirt. I'd just like to focus on one thing the writer said. At one point, he speaks of cosmic justice and suggests that all people, even atheists, believe in such a thing. I don't think the guy knows many atheists.

Here's the nugget that snagged my attention. After saying that atheists believe in something akin to karma, he adds:

This idea, he writes, is played out on a number of differently [sic] levels—including narrative literature, where even atheist authors invariably write stories that “exist to establish that there exists a mechanism or a person—cosmic destiny, karma, God, fate, Mother Nature—to make sure the right thing happens to the right person.”

Invariably, eh? Well, this atheist author wrote a novel called Xmas Carol. In my book, there isn't a hint of a cosmic master who runs things so "the right thing happens to the right person". On the contrary. As in real life, it is luck that runs the show.

The book does, however, take every opportunity to bash religion while suggesting that humans will inevitably create their own version of heaven -- one that is real, as opposed to the vapor-ware favored by religious people.

No real atheists, indeed. There are at least a zillion of us on the internet. Has he not noticed? Religion never has anything new to say -- and that's a feature, not a bug. It's also why religion will die out, quite soon I think.

Yay!