Faith vs. atheism on behavior

For some people, it is actually done that way. There are even some therapies that engage in just such ways of operating.

Some of them I may consider to be shams, but they do exist.

Of course they exist. For any sort of weirdness you pick, there are people who do that.

But I doubt that it is a main reason for atheism. Disagreeing with religion-imposed morality is likely to make one misotheist, not atheist.

Not necessarily. If you disagree with religion-posed morality, you are likely to draw conclusions as to "what kind of person would want that kind of morality." Once you start viewing religion as a means for reinforcing social norms as a means of social control, it becomes easy to view it in the context of "someone wants this to be believed" where that someone isn't God.

Of course. So it might be a basis for questioning religion in the first place. But then the conviction on whether god exists or not comes from other sources, not just "I wish that to (not) be true".

I wasn't saying that was the main, or even a reason for atheism, just that it was a way of thinking/behaving. I would say it's a characteristic that exists independently in both sides.

I would hesitate to speculate why any given person was an atheist, as I've heard of too many different ones, ranging from hating their parents to just not liking the idea of God.

Whether or not belief can be turned on or off, it's still a strawman to frame atheism as being about an excuse to sin, since it ever so often is NOT.

Something tells me that people who say these kinds of things would be a lot less ethical without their religious views, or are simply faking the extent of such views to appear more ethical than they really are, or both.

(sigh) And that is exactly what I have problem with. The idea that there have to be an emotional reason for atheism, and that a person would be a believer if they wanted to. Not denying that such cases exist - in the same way as similar cases for theism exist (there are quite a lot of people who believe simply because they are not comfortable with an alternative), but it is not the reason. And the implication of it is that there is something wrong with atheists, that they are emotionally "damaged" in some way. Wilfully blind. Deliberately closing their eyes due to arrogance. Which is something I, frankly, find insulting. Of course, there are similar accusation from atheistic side - that faith is nothing but a "crutch" to cope with unpleasant reality believers do not want to face - and I consider it no less insulting.

That's why I hesitate to speculate. Until a person makes their reasoning clearer anyway. And even then, it's not the reason so much as their reason.

That is an admirable position

Well said.