A day or so after I’d written a piece about the implication of atheism for society in Dostoevsky’s work, Charles C. W. Cooke wrote a piece at National Review Online titled,” Yes, Atheism and Conservatism Are Compatible,” with the subtitle, “You needn’t believe in God to believe in the American constitutional order.” It only has over 2500 comments as of this writing, so this is a topic of some interest to conservatives, and libertarians as well.
It’s a fascinating piece written with a lot of verve by a man who doesn’t like the accusation that his atheistic faith commitments are incompatible to his native conservative temperament and philosophy of government. (Some atheists might object to my using the phrase “faith commitments” when speaking of atheism, but since we can’t know everything faith is required of everyone.)
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