That is true, they have been pushing the idea that we have no free will or for that matter individuality. That would seem to argue against ridiculing people of faith though, if the people of faith, like all people, have no choice in their beliefs as they claim.
My feeling is that these guys have no actual sincere beliefs, but are instead run by the same sort of groupthink that exists in middle school. When they attack Christians it is about hating Christians as an out group and trying to come up with a barb that will wound. All the attempts to shame Christians into believing unproven leftist groupthink ala Buttigieg and Beto should prove to us they don’t actually understand us. They are just trying to hate on us and demoralize us any way they can, to shove us down and to keep us down. That’s all there is. Someone more clever than me could probably find a way to have fun with the angry hate bunnies on this point.
I think you explained it quite well. And I agree that they have no sincere convictions. But then the Ancient Mystery's always consisted of three circles or groups of people. The inmost circle is where the "ones who know," or the adepts and initiates were. They were the ones 'closest to god.' In circle two were the wizards, magi, dream-interpreters which today is what Thomas Sowell calls the cult of experts. Circle three is the largest and is occupied by true-believers, skeptics, mockers, scoffers. Outside of the three circles were the subhuman infidels, or Christians today.