I find it ironic that the people are showing an innate longing for some type of meaning in the world when they hold a worldview which by definition excludes the possibility of any type of objective meaning in the world.
Yes, I agree. If all this was just some cosmic accident and somehow order developed from chaos (which is impossible), then there is no reason or meaning to life. The only purpose then, I suppose, is one of survival of the fittest. Reality then becomes whatever is "right" in your own eyes. It's a pretty dangerous world when that goes on.