The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.
This is a blunt verse, and it's easy to hear it as an insult aimed at atheists — case closed, they're fools. But read it again and the target isn't disbelief itself; it's the corruption and cruelty that follow when anyone, believer or not, decides they answer to no one but themselves. "They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good."
That's a harder verse than it first sounds, because it doesn't let religious people off the hook either. The "fool" here isn't defined by a checklist of beliefs — it's defined by a heart that has quietly concluded no one is watching and nothing ultimately matters.
You don't have to have this all worked out theologically to feel the truth underneath it: something in us does go wrong when we live as if we're accountable to nobody. Whatever you land on about God, that observation is worth taking seriously.
What changes in a person when they quietly decide nothing they do is being watched?
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.