I will prove to you that God exists

[Alan V]

I offered the opinion (which I'm not backing down from) that many atheists come to despise religion, religious people and then as a result come to disbelieve in the existence of God.

I've been talking with atheists on internet sites for over 18 years. I think your characterization of atheists is an exaggeration, since I have only come across a few such people. Most atheists have good reasons for not believing.

I would guess that, more commonly, people who later become atheists give theistic ideas the benefit of the doubt for long years because they personally like theists, who are family members, neighbors, and friends.

Even though I have had discussions with a lot of theists who give us atheists every reason to hate them, I still think most theists are normal people, at least when they aren't at church. They are mostly just going along with the crowd for social reasons.