Evangelical Christians- how do you deal with the fact that many atheists are far more biblically and theolog-?

If I changed my avatar and posed as a Christian, they'd all embrace my interpretation of scripture. I only had Bible cl every day for 4 years of high school (plus chapel services every Wednesday and church every Sunday). But they simply will not credit atheists with any understanding of the Bible, even when our interpretation is EXACTLY THE SAME. Atheist = bad = thumbs-down.