We probably mostly agree about the practical part of this, although I suspect that due to lack of experience, you underestimate the practical costs of verbal atheism for many people. This at least is suggested by your previous reference to “coddling” people.
I do not think we agree on the epistemic issue yet, since you seem to be saying that there are no epistemic costs to atheism. It may or may not be possible to resolve this disagreement, depending on an issue I will discuss shortly.
But first, when I spoke of an epistemic cost, I did not mean adopting a false belief, or at least not necessarily. I meant a trend toward something false. That is why I used the phrase “as if.” So for example one of the reasons that most of us are not much concerned about the epistemic costs of reading fiction is that there is no particular false belief that reading fiction forces one to adopt: there is a simply a trend towards positions more similar to the ones expressed in the fiction. So there is an epistemic cost, but one is not forced to adopt a false belief.
This is relevant to your comment that “people aren’t going to stop expecting the universe to behave consistently because they realized ‘God does not exist’ is probably true.” Basically you are saying that this will not force people to adopt a false belief. I agree. But I say that there will be a trend towards a false belief (and I will explain that shortly.) The same thing is true if you speak of God as the principle(s) responsible for the universe. If a person says that God is such a principle, but not a person, they will not expect God to e.g. speak with them personally and give them a revelation. So they have effectively distinguished “God” or the principles responsible for the universe from the personal God of theism. But there will still be a trend towards false beliefs. That is true, in my opinion, on both sides of this issue.
Getting to the point of our disagreement, I think there is an actual false belief that many atheists adopt, and that many others trend towards adopting. Now it may be that you yourself hold this belief. If so, then for me it will be evidence that I am right, since it will show that you have fallen prey to the epistemic cost that I am talking about. But since in this case you will not agree that your belief is false, for you it will be evidence that you are right: you will simply think that I have fallen prey to the opposite epistemic cost.
Thus: “as such, they have effectively distinguished God from the laws of universe.” Not if they think the laws of the universe do not exist; for in that case, just as they say that God does not exist, they also say that the laws of the universe do not exist. In other words, we can say that things fall because of the law of gravity. But what is the law of gravity, and where is it found? If it is nothing but an idea in our minds, and nothing at all in the real world, then the law of gravity does not exist, and the fact that things fall is a brute fact which has nothing responsible for it. Many atheists think that this account is true, and in that way they do indeed believe that there are no principles responsible for the world.
As I said previously, I think that this position is falser than theism. Saying that there is literally nothing at all responsible for things is falser than saying that a person is responsible, although both are false. But as I said, you may hold this belief yourself, and in that case, this would indicate to me that I am right about the epistemic cost of atheism, but it would indicate the opposite to you.
We probably mostly agree about the practical part of this, although I suspect that due to lack of experience, you underestimate the practical costs of verbal atheism for many people. This at least is suggested by your previous reference to “coddling” people.
I do not think we agree on the epistemic issue yet, since you seem to be saying that there are no epistemic costs to atheism. It may or may not be possible to resolve this disagreement, depending on an issue I will discuss shortly.
But first, when I spoke of an epistemic cost, I did not mean adopting a false belief, or at least not necessarily. I meant a trend toward something false. That is why I used the phrase “as if.” So for example one of the reasons that most of us are not much concerned about the epistemic costs of reading fiction is that there is no particular false belief that reading fiction forces one to adopt: there is a simply a trend towards positions more similar to the ones expressed in the fiction. So there is an epistemic cost, but one is not forced to adopt a false belief.
This is relevant to your comment that “people aren’t going to stop expecting the universe to behave consistently because they realized ‘God does not exist’ is probably true.” Basically you are saying that this will not force people to adopt a false belief. I agree. But I say that there will be a trend towards a false belief (and I will explain that shortly.) The same thing is true if you speak of God as the principle(s) responsible for the universe. If a person says that God is such a principle, but not a person, they will not expect God to e.g. speak with them personally and give them a revelation. So they have effectively distinguished “God” or the principles responsible for the universe from the personal God of theism. But there will still be a trend towards false beliefs. That is true, in my opinion, on both sides of this issue.
Getting to the point of our disagreement, I think there is an actual false belief that many atheists adopt, and that many others trend towards adopting. Now it may be that you yourself hold this belief. If so, then for me it will be evidence that I am right, since it will show that you have fallen prey to the epistemic cost that I am talking about. But since in this case you will not agree that your belief is false, for you it will be evidence that you are right: you will simply think that I have fallen prey to the opposite epistemic cost.
Thus: “as such, they have effectively distinguished God from the laws of universe.” Not if they think the laws of the universe do not exist; for in that case, just as they say that God does not exist, they also say that the laws of the universe do not exist. In other words, we can say that things fall because of the law of gravity. But what is the law of gravity, and where is it found? If it is nothing but an idea in our minds, and nothing at all in the real world, then the law of gravity does not exist, and the fact that things fall is a brute fact which has nothing responsible for it. Many atheists think that this account is true, and in that way they do indeed believe that there are no principles responsible for the world.
As I said previously, I think that this position is falser than theism. Saying that there is literally nothing at all responsible for things is falser than saying that a person is responsible, although both are false. But as I said, you may hold this belief yourself, and in that case, this would indicate to me that I am right about the epistemic cost of atheism, but it would indicate the opposite to you.