Is there something in the water where you live? Here's very simple statement for you:-
Some people have faith in and believe in a deity and follow a religious sect and some people do not have faith in and do not believe in a deity and do not follow a religious sect.
It's a plain statement, it factually represents what is, it's easy to understand.
For example, it would be entirely possible to divide humanity in to two groups as given by the above easy statement and examine each group's general tendency to various behaviours and conditions.
Now, if you are in the group that believes in a deity and that follows a religious sect, then it does not need a great leap of intuition to suggest that you have a tendency to believe in supernatural events and beings and to believe in things that are impossible. It need not take much of an endeavor to persuade someone down this route either, if they are of the believing group, merely telling them that there is a God is sufficient in many cases.
Conversely, if a person is of the group of people that do not believe, then it's unlikely that you'll ever be able to persuade that person of the impossible. Such a non-believing person is unlikely to believe in something just because somebody tells them. They are going to need evidence, proofs and logically arrived at conclusions before they will even consider looking at anything even remotely supernatural.
Now, I personally am of the group that does not believe, I'm an atheist and do not believe in God and do not follow any religious sect. It's not a problem to me. I know and like persons of both groups and treat both groups the same. People's belief or non-belief does not get in the way of any social or work relationships or impinge upon my life or that of my family's at all.
Maybe, it's because I live in the UK, and we don't mind whether people are religious or not here. The peoples of Europe have probably had enough by now of religious problems; having suffered at he hands of religious fanatics for hundreds of years in the past. We've just had enough of them. Of course, it is more difficult for the religious fanatics now, in these days of high tech mass media, and practically instantaneous communication and wide-spread scientific knowledge and education, to make their influence felt.
All of the above means that it is very unfortunate for a religious sect or cult that is evangelical or fundamental in nature, because trying to convince non-believers is going to be virtually impossible. This is going to lead to frustration on the part of the fundamentalists, and forces them to put forward the view that education and science are both bad. It also leads them to an intolerant view of anybody who does believe the same as they do.
This is why they continually rage ineffectually at atheists. They just can't imagine a life without a religious cocoon enveloping them.
It is also, as evidenced by your quote above Inprayer, why fundamentalists have a tendency to reverse the truth of any situation. Their total reliance on religion has deprived them of the ability to argue and reason with any cogency at all. Hence the continual resort by fundamentalists to distortion and deception in lieu of a proper debate.
