The difference between the Religious and the Atheist is that the Religious believe that god is the highest ideal, whereas the Atheists believe man is the highest ideal. There are two different bars being set.
If we compare religious people who worship Jesus versus those who worship the Devil, both may believe in something bigger than themselves. But in this case there is the higher road; good, and the lower road; evil. One religion will try to exceed the good of natural man, while the other will try to exceed the evil of natural man. The Atheist Scientists are in the middle, limiting itself more to the natural man.
However, since we all have will and choice, the extremes of religious behavior, which will set the bar both higher and lower than natural man, allows living examples of these two extremes The atheists can copy and move their set point toward either extreme, while still not believing in God.
A godless con artist can learn the ways of either side, take it to the extreme, and then commandeer that side. This is possible since they will not be bound by the religious faith issues, which inhibit. They can remain more of an objective opportunist, since man is the highest good.
The empire building preacher may mimic the charisma of faith, while being and acting godless. The real goal is money and power, with them able to objectively plan and scheme, since they are not inhibited by faith in a higher power. They are their own god, so to speak.
My belief is that the Atheist have been around for a long time and infiltrated many religions over the ages. They had to play along in theocratical cultures, but secretly had another agenda. They acted like a virus invading a host to rise to power. They then uses the machinery of the host, to benefit itself. This accounts for many of the religious atrocities, since these behavior do not jive with faith and the teachings. The Spanish Inquisition had nothing to due with the teachings of Jesus. It was about money, power and paranoia.
Prophets, for example, tend to be not welcome in their own place in time, since they are seen as unstable due to the creative flux of their faith and visions. False prophets, are more like con artists playing a role. They are not in the same flux, so they tend to attract followers since their lack of faith makes it easier by play the temporal games.
In modern time, most Muslims are good people but a small minority of self servers have commandeered the faithful, for their own end game. The faithful are weak to resist due to their faith creating inhibitions, less they depart the wrong way; vulnerable to false atheist profits.
If it did exist though, it would be largely the same "axiomatic" evidence for Christianity, which was essentially my point.
