Could it be that they are lonely and introverts in person? They aren't shy online. Statistics show there are only 9- 10% of Americans and the world population who are atheists, so they only have a small chance of meeting someone who has the same world view. Obviously they have family and friends who believe in God, so they just don't advertise their atheist beliefs, and avoid discussing it face to face. You've heard the old saying that discourages people to discuss politics or religion because it might result in an argument.
There must be some Atheist conventions where they all meet and possibly join hands and sing, thanking nature and the sun for mutating into who they are. "We've come a long way from slime to humans, let us pray and give thanks to all the wonderful chemicals, water and energy that made this possible ... oh, let's not forget all that information -- wherever that came from, thank you!"
My father was an atheist. He was a hard working man who kept to himself and didn't have friends because he didn't trust them nor did he have time for them. He was a good family man, loved his kids and strangely enough practiced the "golden rule". He taught us that, "Treat others as you want to be treated ..." He also was a man of integrity, patience, and self control. He was a gentle man. He used to say, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything." And he lived by it, never heard him say a bad thing about anyone. I couldn't restrain myself - I was always somewhat insensitive, picking on people's weaknesses when I shouldn't have. But he always told us not to tell anyone that he was an atheist. His parents were Catholics and he had seven sisters who were as well. So he was basically silent about his views until we were adults, then he would discuss the Discovery Channel and what he learned about Evolution and disbelief in God, telling us the sad story about his father dying when he was ten and him getting on his knees and praying that it wouldn't happen -- God said no and from that time, he decided not to believe. Later on in his life my brother died as well and in his grief he said, "I believe in God even less now." He was depressed for years. That's true about secular people, they grieve harder and longer because they think that is all to life, when it's over, it's over and they will never see that person again. When his sisters died, one after another, he would always say, "I should have spent more time with her."
But what did that mean when he said I believe less? Maybe he had a little doubt in his position. Maybe there was a glimmer of hope still?
After I became a Christian, we had a talk about his beliefs. I asked him, "Where do you think the golden rule came from?" He thought civilization created it, we just evolved and came up with this principle. I said no, Jesus taught that, it came from Him. But it was as if he practiced Christianity without knowing it because he was brought that way but would never admit it. I gave him a 35 page editorial that I wrote refuting Evolution and then years later a book I wrote about basic Christianity. When he was 80, his wife caught him praying to God. This was in my book, I recommended that a person should begin with prayer before reading it, if they were going to take this seriously. He died at the age of 83 years old and I do believe he finally made his peace with God -- I'm looking forward to seeing him again.
