In Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor, we see that the Inquisitor is an atheist who prosecutes Christ. He tells Christ he has prevented human beings from being able to achieve redemption because he has given them the option of choice. This is a freedom that most human beings cannot handle, according to the Inquisitor, so they are doomed to sin and suffer. The Inquisitor views choice as having too much freedom and knowledge, forcing human beings to struggle in vain with their conscience. As the Inquisitor maintains, "Only one who can appease their conscience can take their freedom" (Dostoevsky 27). It seems that redemption, in Dostoevsky's view, is not possible for the masses of men, primarily because most men cannot develop their virtue in a world where there is mass poverty, hunger, and sin. We see this when the Inquisitor criticizes Christ for saying man cannot live on bread alone, claiming instead "Feed men, and then ask of them virtue" (Dostoevsky 26)! At the end of the story, Christ is freed by the Inquisitor after Christ kisses him on the lips. However, according to Ivan the Inquisitor has not had a change of heart or rediscovered his faith, "The kiss glows in his heart, but the old man adheres to his ideas" (Dostoevsky 36). In this sense, redemption is beyond the reach of most mortals in Dostoevsky's view.
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Grand Inquisitor with Related Chapters from the Brothers Karamazov. Charles B. Guignon, Ed. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing, 1993.
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