A brilliant piece by clubschadenfreude. Possibly the best researched, best articulated atheist essay on the Newton massacre .

As the days go by, I see more excuses from Christians on why their god do is hands-off when awful things happen. It’s easy for me as an atheist; there is no evidence for a god so I am not surprised when no gods show up in response to a violent event or in response to prayers of any kind. But without this acceptance of reality, for the theist, it’s a problem. They must come up with excuses so they may preserve their belief in such a being. They’ve invested a lot of time and self-worth in religion. I did the same when I was a Christian. If they’re wrong about this, what else might they be wrong about? If you have never considered yourself wrong, it’s a very scary thing to contemplate. Especially if that “wrongness” has supposedly eternal implications that involve eternal torture.