Why dysvangelize?

The atheist narrative goes something like this:

“Life is short, and then there’s nothing. There is no meaning to it all, other than what we create for ourselves. Most people aren’t strong enough to handle this truth, so they turn to religion. They invent a big man-in-the-sky to soothe their despair, a strain of wishful thinking that makes them feel good about things and gets them to behave so they don’t lose the happily-ever-after ending to their fairy tale. But some few, proud, noble souls are strong enough, mensch enough, to handle it. These become atheists.”

It’s a fine narrative (as narratives go), with obstacles and heroes and a nice, large group of foreigners to deride. But what if it’s true? What if the gentle delusion of religion comforts and virtuefies people who really are incapable of enduring “the truth?” If that part of the story is right, then what sort of monster would rip away their sappy fable and replace it with the despair which, by their own theory, is far too crushing for most people to bear?