People with different ideas about divine beings can come together if they have common interests or common adversaries.
People love to hold forth about their ideas about the ultimate things, but that can tear political coalitions apart.
This is a controversy that could have been easily avoided by just not inviting an explicitly atheist group with no conservative ties to a conservative conference.
The problem is that the Conservative base is shrinking and so
in order to remain politically viable they’re willing to increase the voter base that compromises, dilutes the underlying fundamental principles that have made conservatism the principled, logical ideology for a better, more fulfilling, civilized way of life, for God and country.