And no small part of this unpredicted miracle was the curious innocence of these people in the very midst of their freedom and their wealth. The Christian god was as dead as he had been in the 1700s. And no new mythological religion had arisen to take the place of the old.

People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil... Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult.

The atheism and nihilism of my earlier years now seems shallow, and even a bit cocky.

Maybe a new religion will rise now. Maybe without it, man will crumble in cynicism and selfishness because he really needs his gods.

—¿Acaso no sería mejor el mundo si nunca más se quemara a nadie en el nombre de Dios? —pregunté—. ¿Si no se continuara creyendo que Dios puede ordenar al hombre hacer tal cosa a su semejante? ¿Cuál es el peligro de un mundo racional donde horrores como éste no se produzcan?

I touched the small sacred images. I shook my head and bit my lip, as if to say, How awful that he should have stolen these! But I also found it very funny. And further proof that God had no power over me.

The world of atheism was cracking apart for me, just as once the world of Catholic faith had cracked apart. I was losing my faith in the nonexistence of God.