I have a friend, albeit an acquaintance, who admits he is an “in-the-closet” atheist who lives a solitary life (he really likes being on his own), is celibate (ie: in his own words, “he doesn’t want to chance disease or, his own admission: bringing children in a corrupt and unredeemable world”), believes in a lot of physical, holistic medicine, natural health-care, and is suspicious of  any type of “encroaching government”, be it conservative or liberal. He admits he really has no use for people, meaning he wants to live a solitary existence without Religion (any type) or any people in general.  I visit him once or twice  a year and email him occasionally.  Any thoughts or advice I can give my friend would be most appreciative.  I’m at a loss as to how to address his angst in being more social and charitable to humanity at large.  Sounds like spiritual despair.  He says he was once a traditional Catholic back in the 1970’s & 1980’s but eventually gave up believing in anything anymore.  Everything seems “dead” to him (his own words).

The suggestion made of visiting a monastery sounds good if he has retained any of his faith, but in my experience atheists have no interest if depriving themselves of any pleasures or comfort, they have no incentive to do so since they don't believe it will do their souls any good (since they don't believe in souls in the first place)  Your friend may not want to be around people or society, but I'm betting he wants his wi-fi, central-air, and restaurant-runner; or whatever his particular equivalents are. I've personally never met an atheist that would bother with something they found at all uncomfortable or requiring effort  unless they expected a monetary or material compensation that made it worthwhile to them. (such as seriously reading books or articles provided them to dissuade them from their disbelief.)