A better way to explain this: You are what you eat and whoever or whatever is No.1 on your life’s priority list (the person or thing you hold sacred) becomes your de facto god.

Whoever or whatever you consider the worst person or thing in the world becomes your de facto devil. This explains why some atheists (seeing the need for community religion provides) have started their own atheist churches.

You are correct in saying most non-believers (or weak believers) aren’t true atheists but rather people who put other people or things at the top of their priority list (typically the four false idols of money, power, pleasure and honor).

We all know people who put their career or a baby or themselves at the top of their priority list and there are certainly great numbers who put religion low on their priority list or who simply don’t think about religion at all (the “nones” who answer none when asked if they have a religion). Ultimately, the false idols prove unsatisfying and at some point we search for something more, something greater than ourselves. And the explains why religion continues to grow in raw numbers even at a time when trust and confidence in nearly all institutions craters to new lows.