This is a natural progression of soul development and is expected. Atheists are more honest than many who proclaim religion and go to church, not based upon their belief in God, but based upon the individual identity they have obtained from the church hierarchy and peer member group.
The natural progression in soul development is dependency(surrender to others) through teenage transition to self identity or self worship through the diminishing of self (mid-life crisis or dying daily) through the dark night of the soul and only then through an internal surrender and the experience of Divine Love, and only then, on to a surrender to God.
The reason for the sequence is that you must first take your authority away from those you are in a dependency relationship with in order to own it so you can surrender it to God. The teachings of being born-again, new wine in an old skin and the hand being a part of the body all relate to this growth process.
We (on earth) are about to enter a huge diminishing of the ego self. The problem is, a slightly injured ego will regroup to redefine and rebuild itself by having an affair or buying the sports car. A severely diminished ego self (without religion)will revert back to dependency and surrender their authority blindly based upon emotion (and not have the use of their logic even though they previously could have been “type A” executives appearing to have full control)
Only people with religion with find the strength to journey through the depths of the dark night of the soul and experience a true relationship with God.
No matter the religion, you have people in each of the groups of soul development.. the legalistic judgmental fundamentalists, the ecumenical self worshipers, and the mystics who commune with god every day whether they are in church or not...(I joke that these are the people who can wear plaid pants with striped shirts as their identity comes from their relationship with god and not from what others think.
When you are full of yourself you have no room for God!
Atheists, or self worshipers tend to be highly educated. As such they feel self empowered, like the sixteen year old who thinks he knows it all, and feel they have no need for God as they are in control.