The passionately protesting atheist, sensitive to suffering, can be welcomed as a partner in a spiritual and moral struggle against evil. His companionship is a defense against smugness. The intellectually discriminating atheist can be accepted as an ally in skeptically rejecting all the popular, half-baked stupidities named “god” that abound in our time and invited into conversations that explore what the best minds thought, and think, about God.

But there is one form of atheism that cannot be treated so charitably. Psalm 14 energetically attacks the one kind of atheism that the world is most tolerant of but of which is has most to fear–the people who say in their hearts, “There is no God.” This is a quiet, unobtrusive atheism that never calls attention to itself. These people do not say with their mouths, “There is no God.” To the contrary, with their mouths they say what everyone else says about God. They recite the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer along with the best of them. With their mouths they articulate impressive arguments for God’s existence. With their mouths they denounce the godless. With their mouths they demand public prayers and official religion. But in their hearts they say, “There is no God.” Their atheism is never voiced and may not even be conscious, but it is lived–with a vengeance. When asked what they believe these athesists either subscribe to one of the religious fads of the day or assent to whatever the churches say should be believed about God.

–Eugene Peterson, Earth and Altar