It’s a belief about a great future change, but there’s nothing supernatural or totally implausible about it. And it doesn’t sound like they were preaching it as the absolute truth, but were open that it was just their belief. Also, no social rites or rituals mean that despite them telling it to people who didn’t care to hear it, I am not convinced that their belief was very religious.

Also, “As a teenager” implies more self-awareness than you seem to give them credit for.

More broadly—and at least in online spaces—I often notice that many vocal proponents of atheism exhibit traits typically associated with religious behaviour:

- a tendency to proselytise

- a stubborn unwillingness to genuinely engage with opposing views

- the use of memes and in-jokes as if they were profound arguments

- an almost reverential attitude toward certain past figures

There’s more, but I really ought to get on with work.

That's assuming I actually believed it, rather than just reveling in the reactions from religious people. It's a fun scenario that would result in immediate rejection—most wouldn’t even entertain the idea. They instead often found it completely abhorrent. Provoking discomfort was entertaining for teenage me.

I'm too ignorant to hold any true beliefs.