Believers use similar tactics; often they don't themselves believe in God, but they certainly do believe that belief in God is preferable to 'non belief'.
They fear any erosion of religiosity may be chaotic and have negative effects on the way of life they are used to.
They do not seek the truth; they want to protect the 'status quo' proof or no proof."
What do you think of that?
I read
Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up because I thought it would be entertaining. I didn't anticipate that it might explain major mysteries. Turns out that believers in UFOs lie about them in order to help other people to know the truth.
Thus: Sara believes UFOs are real, so she fakes a photograph so her friends will believe too. She thinks UFOs are real, and her friends believe that too, she thinks they know the truth. And she got them there by lying.
The idea that, "often they don't themselves believe in God," is new to me. I mean, sometimes, of course, but often? A preacher who doesn't believe is still going to preach, because that's how she maintains her income and her position in society. And there will be many who never come out as atheists because because of social pressure; they don't want to be reviled. I was a crypto-atheist myself, in my teens.
But I don't think of the ones who publicly field terrible arguments as being closet atheists. Why would they evangelize if they don't themselves believe?
Of course they often argue that religion is the basis of morality, that, in the absence of religion, any behavior would be as good as any other. Cruelty would be as good as kindness. But that argument doesn't work. It can't be defended. Attempting to defend it should result in vicious cognitive dissonance.
I think of Christians fielding bad arguments as optimistic. "One of these arguments has to work. This one never worked before, but maybe it will work this time."
I generally have to assume the Christians I debate with are sincere. I wouldn't waste time on them otherwise. And I get rude and unsociable when I think I'm being lied to. Rude and unsociable isn't my preferred public persona.
But, many Christians field the moral argument as if they really hope it will work this time. And many of those probably believe that the argument is good; they think their failure to succeed in debate is a personal failing, not the fault of the argument itself.
So, yes, it's possible that many "theists" don't believe in gods themselves but still believe that theism is necessary for a healthy functioning society.