Giles Fraser's response to Stephen Fry's recent statement that he feels he has no option except to repudiate the "evil, capricious, monstrous maniac" presented to us as "God" by many Christians reminds me of the insistence of the classic 20th-century Catholic theologian Karl Rahner that many people may have a moral obligation to repudiate the idea of God and choose atheism, when the "God" presented to them by people of faith wears a demonic face. Rahner insisted that atheists have a great deal of value to teach Christians about who the God Christians worship really is — if we who are believers would only listen attentively to atheists.
