A Disturbing Story about a Psychopath

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/06/a_heartbreaking_absence_of_emp.php

Don't read that unless you have a tough stomach.

I posted the following on it in response, because it really bothered me, and I'm reposting it here because I have an ego and I thought it would be a good blog post rather than just a mere comment.

Oh man. I'm going to have to drink some warm milk and think happy thoughts in order to sleep tonight. Thanks for that. I'd really like to say I can't imagine the suffering that poor animal went through, but I can, and it makes me sick to my stomach.
How can you judge a psychopath? A person with no empathy. It's not like Cheyenne was there when they were handing out minds and was like "yeah, I'll take THAT one". She didn't ask for a lack of empathy or to be totally selfish.
It would be a hell of a lot easier if there was a devil. It would be so much easier if people like Cheyenne had just sold their souls to him and then we could say "oh, that person is an evil bastard and will rot in hell" and move on. I think the hardest thing about atheism for me was accepting that no, that kitten did not go to a better place. Yes, the person that killed it is evil, and there's no divine justice that's going to rain down on them. Plus that, how can they be truly evil if they never chose to be evil? There is no way this situation will ever not exist or be made right.

I catch myself thinking as have a few people on the forum that the goons on 4chan /b/ enact vigilante justice from outside. Then I have to check myself--vigilante justice is never a good thing because it has a tendency to spiral out of control. Plus that, that's what this girl wants. She wants attention. What is this if not wishing for divine retribution, or at least some sort of internet superman?

I think sometimes that religion is an easy and comforting way out of thinking about these problems that present a huge moral dichotomy: people who are evil but don't understand that they are or why. It's unpleasant and confusing to think of because the solution is simply accepting that at this point, there is none and that's a hard thing to do.