2014 article in online science journal: "Atheists Might Not Exist"

[Excited Penguin]

Poor fella. Maybe he wants to say Deus Ex Machina but smoke too much weed to remember proper literary theory.

[Whateverist]

So I am new to the source, "Science 2.0", but this is what they say is their mission.  "Create a place where world-class scientists write articles and discuss issues without being filtered by size or editorial limitations, where there are no political or cultural agendas, and the audience can read great science directly from the sources and maybe learn some new things."  I'd be grateful if those more in the know about science would give me their take on its legitimacy.

Of course there is a god in all works of fiction - the author

True that. But have you Alex, as a working scientist, ever heard of this "Science 2.0" site before? Pretty telling that the author is a literature guy, I'm guessing. I'll bet you front lines guys love it when people in completely unrelated fields step up to sort it all out for you like this, huh?

[Gawdzilla]

"World class atheists?"

I'm striving for "no-class atheist!"

I might work my way up to that some day. 

But I doubt it. 

As for atheists, I've never had a religious thought in my life.

[Gawdzilla]

 It’s not that a deity appears directly in tales. It is that the fundamental basis of stories appears to be the link between the moral decisions made by the protagonists and the same characters’ ultimate destiny. The payback is always appropriate to the choices made. An unnamed, unidentified mechanism ensures that this is so, and is a fundamental element of stories—perhaps the fundamental element of narratives.

Well, gee. I guess the author never heard of "just deserts"?

[Ravenshire]

 It’s not that a deity appears directly in tales. It is that the fundamental basis of stories appears to be the link between the moral decisions made by the protagonists and the same characters’ ultimate destiny. The payback is always appropriate to the choices made. An unnamed, unidentified mechanism ensures that this is so, and is a fundamental element of stories—perhaps the fundamental element of narratives.

Well, gee. I guess the author never heard of "just deserts"?

Not only that, but the claim is pure bullshit. I'm guessing the author has never read any grimdark fantasy or the darker side of sci-fi. Hell, all of literature has characters that blatantly do not get the reward they deserve. "Gone Girl" anyone?!? Most literature reflects its audience and the majority audience wants the bad guys to get it in the end and the good guys to ride off into the sunset with the hot model in the awesome Italian sports car and when that doesn't happen they claim the story sucked no matter how good the writing or the storytelling is. Writers who want to sell lots of books make sure they satisfy the masses.

[The Valkyrie]

What?

But I DO ex