“Again, you’re making an ad hoc definition of atheist. “
Well, maybe. But what I think is that just getting people to talk about God is the start. The concept of a loving God who knows you thoroughly, your inner motives, your dreams, sins, that you can speak to and communication with this Being and the feeling that he has a destiny in store for you if you will repent and turn to him is captivating.
These ideas are haunting to anyone who thinks about it, even while they deny it with calculated philosophy. Once exposed to the gospel, it quietly does its work.
All the arguments in the world can’t banish the idea of this loving God who is hounding you, trying to connect and save you. No matter what they say, inside something is happening.
Sort of like Saint Paul who persecuted believes and strongly argued against them, until the Damascus Road event.
It took decades to see Professor Anthony Flew have a change of heart. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNkxpTIbCIw
Atheism is just an ideology. God is out for salvation which transcends assent to propositions.