I was searching recently for orthodox iconography of St. Benedict, and happened to come across the shuttered site of Fr. John McLuckie, an Episcopal priest in Scotland. A post of his from a few years ago caught my eye. As far as I can tell, he wrote this. It’s well said:

I am an atheist if, by ‘God’, you mean a cosmic puppeteer who takes away our autonomy and organises the minutiae of every life.

I am an atheist if, by ‘God’, you mean an unflinching judge who likes nothing better than catching people out on an arbitrary set of rules and punishing them accordingly, delighting at their downfall.

I am an atheist if, by ‘God’, you mean our tribal mascot who rallies us to get one over on the other lot.

I am an atheist if, by ‘God’, you mean a totem of prim morality that idolises the nuclear family, detests any expression of human love that does not fit this model.

I am an atheist if, by ‘God’, you mean a trump card to play in any argument that terminates all debate.

I am an atheist if, by ‘God’, you mean one who is less than indifferent to the suffering of the abused, the cry of the hungry and the agony of the poor.

I am an atheist if, by ‘God’, you mean anything that excludes any of our imperfect human expressions of wonder, love, mystery and longing.

I am an atheist if, by ‘God’, you mean one who is more interested in the precise formulations of our minds than the dispositions of our hearts.