A have a high regard for atheists, not because I think that they are right (they are not), but because they are brave souls. It is far easier to sit in the kind of place that the majority of people sit - either as agnostics, or tepid believers in some undefined higher power. But atheists have made a commitment and that is worth admiring, even if it is fraught with terrible consequences.

Another thing too. The commitment that atheists make is genuine and they live their lives accordingly. The material world is all there so it is best to make the most of it. But the wishy-washy majority, those who claim that there is a God but act as if there is not, are essentially practical atheists. Their lives pay no heed to any spiritual dimension - they live as if this is all there is, just the material world. 

It might be sentimentalism or it might be superstition but it is mightily dishonest to say one thing and then act as if its not true. I don't how things will pan out, come the end of this human experiment, God will make this judgement. For only He truly knows the human heart.

I do hold out hope for those who do not believe. The strange thing is, the jump from one to the other is not so far and the bridge is a sure thing.