Mr. Chiang’s short story, as far as I was concerned, not merely failed
of its object, but was counter-productive. One of the things that made me suffer
no regret when I was called away from the cramped intellectual jail of atheism
into a wider and more wonderful world, was my growing conviction that my fellow
atheists were shallow, men without insight into real human nature. I read
Chiang’s story and I thought: is this the best my side can do? Is this cheap
slander the best argument we can muster against our hated enemies, the
Christians? In those days I kept wondering why, since my side had the
Sixteen-Inch Guns of Truth and Logic, our gunners kept shooting blanks. Why were
we sneering all the time, instead of setting out the evidence?

To get a
notion of the depth of the contrast I saw, find a comfy chair by the fire, read
HELL IS THE ABSENCE OF GOD by Ted Chiang, and then, without rising from the
chair except perhaps to toss another log on the fire, pick up and read SMITH OF
WOOTTON MAJOR by J.R.R. Tolkien, or perhaps LEAF BY NIGGLE. It does not matter
whether you are an Atheist or a Christian or are another faith or uncommitted: anyone reading those two author’s work in contrast will see that one has an insight into human joys and human woes, a compassion toward even human folly or pride or sloth. And the other one shows nothing, no humanity, no understanding. The heart of Chiang’s work is not in the right place. Even though I thought Chiang’ world view was true and Tolkien’s was false, I concluded Tolkien’s insight into real life was keen-eyed, and Chiang’s was superficial.

He cites an earlier review of Chiang's short story, written when he was, as he
described at the time, "an unrepentant atheist":

"The satire “Hell is the Absence of God” reads like
it was written by someone who never met a Christian, or read anything written by
a Christian. In this tale, those who see the light of heaven are grotesquely
disfigured (their eyes and eye sockets are removed) and loose free will, and
become perfect in faith, so that they are automatically assured of entrance into
paradise. The main character, mourning after the death of his wife, seeks to
find a spot where an angel is leaving or entering the world, so that he can, if
only for a moment, glimpse the light of heaven, so that he can loose his eyes
and his free will, but be assured of meeting his wife again in heaven. All goes
as planned, but God capriciously sends the man to Hell in any case. Hell is not
a place of torment, but a bland area much like earth, merely separate from God,
peopled by Fallen Angels who sin was not rebellion, but free-thinking. Hence,
out of all created beings, only the main character is actually suffering in
Hell, since he is the only one who longs not to be there, and, thanks to his
free will being destroyed, is the only one who loves God wholeheartedly. Again,
all efforts of the main character to rejoin his wife are futile. There are
secondary characters whose lives are also ruined and for no particular
reason.

"I myself am an unrepentant atheist, but I would never pen such
trite antichristian propaganda. If an author is going to set a story in an
alternate universe where the Christian myths happen to be true, the author
should become familiar with (or, at least, hide his contempt for) the source
material. Read Thomas Aquinas or John Milton. Christians may be wrong, but they
are not stupid.

"Over all, Mr. Chiang is an excellent writer, who writes
wonderfully about big ideas, but weds them to a theme of dispirited nihilism. He
is capable of subtle and penetrating characterization, except when he trots out
a tired leftwing cliché, whereupon suddenly everything becomes flat and
predictable (see, for example, his treatment of the CIA, Big Business, the
Military, and the Victorian Age)."