The OP writer seems to think that atheists, freethinkers, whatever, take any statement attributed to a scientist as beyond dispute
Of course he does - because that's how his worldview works: Find a source you believe (in the case of the OP, The Bible), and accept what it says.
If you are unsure about anything, consult your chosen authority for a definitive and unquestionable answer.
And if that's how your epistemology operates, the
simplest assumption is that that's how everyone's epistemology operates. And until very recently (the last two or three centuries), that was in fact the case.
Atheists reject The Bible as an authority (just like Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, etc. do). Muslims instead use the Koran, Sikhs the Guru Granth Sahib, Jews the Tanakh... So in order to determine how Atheists see the world, clearly all you need to do is to identify what book(s) Atheists choose as their ultimate authority.
And clearly, that ultimate authority is science.
And obviously, science is adherence to the definitive and unquestionable answers written in science books.
Obviously.
This analysis is completely understandable, even reasonable. It's hopelessly
wrong, but given the way education itself is structured, the error is far from obvious to most people, for whom science is something they never thought about once they finished school, (and tried their best to avoid thinking about when they were in school, for that matter).
Shit, English doesn't even have different words for science (the methodology for understanding reality), and science (the body of work assembled using the scientific method). It's no wonder that people mistake reliance on the former for faith in the latter.
It's a very easy mistake to make.