I really tried hard to read this essay. But I got to the bit that said The sanctity of human life is a Judeo-Christian notion which might very easily not survive [the disappearance of] Judeo-Christian civilisation and I had to give up in order not to throw something at the PC Screen.
What arrogance, what hubris.
As WWM2 says, atheism is not faith, despite Prof Ferguson saying it was the faith he was brought up in. Athiesm is not a metaphysical framework, it is a realisation that the God of the gaps will soon be confined to the tiny spaces between what we know today and what we'll know in the future.
I'd say to anyone, if you need a spiritual aspect to your life, go ahead and have one. Just don't try to pretend that your brand of Bronze Age fairy tales are superior to anyone else's, or are a necessity for civilisation.