As I said in my book, Faith: A Layman’s Find, an atheist is a wonder of creation, like the bombardier beetle. He exists, with impunity, in a world created by the being whose existence he loudly denies. He uses only human reason where we have now discovered something beyond human reason in Quantum Mechanics.
Undoubtedly he serves a purpose. Even reason will tell us that he keeps those who follow a universal Father from becoming complacent or self-satisfied. As a name he doesn’t last long—who among us remembers the French philosophes?
But you can’t let him have his way. Look at the deaths due to Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and lesser tyrants.
Civilization 