I am reminded of C.S. Lewis’ remark that there is wishful thinking in hell, as well as on earth

A reader writes:

For a laugh, read this old (1936) essay by Joseph McCabe, one of G.K. Chesterton’s atheist interlocutors (look in Heretics, for example). In it, we learn about “The Myth of [Soviet] Persecution” and how atheism is “SWEEPING THE WORLD” in lovely places like China. The real gems are his predictions for the future:

“That Atheism has grown in the last 10 years a hundred times more rapidly than any religion ever grew.

That it is moderate to claim that there are considerably more than 200,000,000 Atheists today.

That the growth has been checked only by fraudulent misrepresentations and savage persecution.

That the growth is such that if freedom is again generally secured in the next 10 years we may justly expect Atheists to be more numerous than genuine Christians in 20 years.”

Yup, by 1956 there were supposed to be more atheists than Christians.

What strikes me about it is, as usual, how utterly Christocentric the western atheist project is. It is overwhelming *Christ* in whom McCabe does not believe. Islam is not even on the radar.