All writers of fiction will at some point find themselves abandoning a piece of work - or find themselves putting it aside, as we gently say.
If today is anything like the typical day of the past 3 years, three American soldiers will die in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Taliban will get a little stronger in Afghanistan and the civil war will continue to be enhanced in Iraq.
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.