Faithful atheists

I have been having an on again/off again "debate" with a old military chum via Facebook comments. And I'll tell you what, it is FRUSTRATING!
My old buddy is very similar to me in age, personality, and even skills-- we both went through Naval Aviation jet training together, both flew for airlines & are even both drummers (although it appears he is earning money at thumping the skins-- which I could only dream of). That is where the similarities end however.
This guy-- I'll call him "Junior" since, well, that's what callsigns are for-- is one of those "preaching" atheists. He can't help but post snide, arrogant, condescending posts that take snips at anyone "foolish enough" to believe in God.
I've seen that kind of thing over and over again through the years. Haughty atheists just love to broadcast their apparent intellectual superiority by "humorously" belittling "gullible, overly-simplistic christians."
The thing is, I've had my crisis of faith and I went from trashing it back to validating it all over again. I have deeply weighed and intellectually examined the things I purport to believe; and my faith has been powerfully verified as based on Truth in very personal and powerful ways in my life-- ways I cannot deny.
Now here's the thing that Junior cannot seem to understand: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is-- at its core-- deeply personal and must be explored & worked out on one's own, inside one's soul. My personally powerful experience was meant to impact ME & not necessarily anyone else, much less Junior (evidently).
Junior cannot get past a mental block that demands PROOF for anything he claims to believe. Although, as I am attempting to illuminate to him, his blind belief in science's explanation of the Origins of Life (the very essence of the explanation) come down to a faith position similar to believing in God or Creationism. Let me see if I can explain easily...
The Big Bang (which is the current best explanation for the creation of everything) was an explosion of an infinitesimally dense & small mass (the "dot") which accounts for EVERYthing in the universe today. But... where did that dot come from? Was it "always there"? As christians believe God always was? Or was it created out of nothing-- thus violating science's own Law of Conservation of Mass/Matter? So as a scientific atheist he can scoff at someone idiotic enough to illogically believe in God, but he can believe an equally ludicrous option & still consider himself so intellectually superior??
The frustrating thing is that he is so arrogant yet so obviously NOT well-thought out in his position. He's a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black!
I suppose I should be humored by his hubris & parroting of illogical quotes that were meant to strengthen his position as a member of the atheist elite. But from the standpoint of loving TRUTH and the search thereof, I think my frustration lies in seeing someone who espouses the same desire, but won't make the full jump to the logical end of his own arguments.
Here's what I think I've come to understand: Atheists cannot make certain logical next steps within their own belief structures because of their PRESUPPOSITION that "there cannot be/is not/no such thing as god." My simple explanation of the logical basis of the Big Bang theory (ie, where did that dot come from?) will NOT be answered by an atheist-- they simply will not do it-- because the answer shows that they have to have as much (similar) faith to believe in a godless creation of everything as a person does to believe in God & Him creating everything.
Atheists ridicule faith; so how can one ever admit to having some?
Perhaps a brave atheist will admit to having faith in science or man's ability to explain all eventually. But they will likely never be intellectually honest enough to look at science's ultimate end at it's virtual statement of faith: "Something HAD to come from nothing because... there CANNOT be a god! We cannot prove this, but... it HAS to be true." Belief in something unprovable sounds EXACTLY like faith to me!
In the meantime, I essentially told Junior that as long as he keeps posting his vitriolic tripe that I am up to the task of refuting it.
If he wants to preach, yes, he should have as much right as the next Jesus-lovin' Christian. But at LEAST have the cajones to answer the deeper/further questions that your own belief system brings you to and deal with THAT! I did.