Why do atheists spend so much energy opposing nothing?

Atheists seem to be literally obsessed with an entity that does not exist. This fascinates me to no end. People do not get so emotionally invested in such obviously irrational non-sense unless there is a spark of truth residing somewhere beneath the emotional pilot light within their psyches. Atheists remind me of C.S. Lewis's comment about his own former atheism: "I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world." 

I have yet to find an a-toothfairyist or a-easterbunniest. There is no Society of A-sataclausists as far as I know. People do not oppose something that is patently non-sensical and denied by everyone except small children who have not yet developed the ability to reason. But there are many reasonable people who believe in divinity of some sort--historically far more have than haven't. Fascinating.

I can only conclude that atheists have some sort of emotional and ultimately psychological investment in spending so much time and energy opposing Nothing. For example, those who rail against the historicity of the holocaust always have an emotional investment in the supposed "non-event". Could it be that atheists are just as guilty of what they accuse theists of--some personal benefit in their philosophical assumption? If the theist can be blamed for needing a crutch, then perhaps the atheist can be blamed for wanting his/her own way without restraint, or perhaps the atheist desires to believe that he/she is the sole source of all achievements. Someone once observed that "The atheist can't find God for the same reason that a thief can't find a policeman." How insightful. Peter Kreeft hits on the head with this evaluation: "Someone once said that if you sat a million monkeys at a million typewriters for a million years, one of them would eventually type out all of Hamlet by chance. But when we find the text of Hamlet, we don't wonder whether it came from chance and monkeys. Why then does the atheist use that incredibly improbable explanation for the universe? Clearly, because it is his only chance of remaining an atheist. At this point we need a psychological explanation of the atheist rather than a logical explanation of the universe." 

I also find that most of my atheist friends spend more time thinking about a "God" that doesn't exist than my theist friends who think about a God who does exist. I do know that they spend a lot of time opposing Nothing. But if there is a divinity and post-mortem consciousness replete with personal responsibility, then perhaps those God-obsessed atheists will get some merit points for their obsession with No One when they stand before the Non-existent Deity.=}