The atheists he describes seem to be the young sort who were brought up hearing tales of the gods, but have since rejected them due to what he would no doubt consider improper education that made them believe only in material things. I have met a number of different kinds of atheists, but this has been one of the most common. Many are those who leave home with little theological knowledge beyond the stories they heard as young children, and as soon as they encounter teachers who seem on the surface to be more sophisticated (word chosen advisedly), they reject their parents’ beliefs as childish fairy tales.
He does say something like that (some are young and disrespectful), but I’m pretty sure the theories he is responding to are basically the Presocratic ones. But this is consistent with what you said: I reckon the Presocratics were once the “sophisticated” radicals!
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