The Sisyphus of Greek legend felt himself worthy to be peer to the gods. As a result, he took the liberty of exposing to the world the things he thought they had done wrong. He pointed out indiscretions and questioned their judgments. As punishment for his hubris, the gods condemned Sisyphus to push a boulder endlessly up a hill, only to have it roll back into place.

It appears the gods haven't changed.

The boulder that keeps rolling back into place now lies aside an empty rock cave, a hollowed out tomb. There's no good reason to put it back, as it has settled where it belongs. But occasionally, a man will overstep his bounds and make himself critic of the divine. When this happens, God has little choice but to shake his head, shrug his shoulders and point out the boulder. Not so much punishment as necessity forces him to return to the rock. With everything he has he will push it as close as he can to its original place, but just when he thinks he has it, it rolls away again. A lifetime of this will, obviously, make him a bit cranky.

When an objective, rational, modern scientist like Richard Dawkins starts to get cranky, we have good reason to ask why.

Dawkin's "The God Delusion," (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) is testimony to the fact that, via citations of fringe sources, an otherwise scientific thinker can be overwhelmed by his own ire. Dawkins has pushed the envelope by showing up at megachurch services with cameras and accusing the preacher of re-creating the Nuremberg rallies, scheduling lectures in the Lynchburg, Va., hometown of Jerry Falwell's ultra-conservative Liberty University.

There seems to be something on the line other than objective analysis of the sociological phenomena of religion.

What's on the line is that he can't keep the darn rock in place.

Sam Harris has penned the equally feisty "The End of Faith" (W.W. Norton, 2005) and "Letter to a Christian Nation" (Knopf, 2006). His purpose, like Dawkins', is unabashedly to rid the world of religion. Likewise with Christopher Hitchens' new "God is not Great" (Twelve Books, Hachette Book Group, 2007). It's going to be a bit hard, though, because their sophomoric rhetoric fails to offer any realistic explanations of the origins of the Christian story.

They can't dismiss the power of the story to win the assent of about a third of the world's population. Instead, they have taken up an over-hashed, unconvincing rant and counted on an American audience, disenchanted with the values of the present administration, for sales.

Perhaps they should take a cue from Oxford professor and lifetime atheist Anthony Flew, who, just recently, after writing numerous books arguing for atheism, converted. He said he found the evidence for the existence of God too overwhelming to continue to hold to his atheism. In other words, he gave up on the boulder that wouldn't stay in front of the tomb.

The Rev. James W. Miller is the author of "God Scent" and is on the pastoral team at First Presbyterian Church.