I'm pretty sure he meant in the existential sense, as many of the religious often do.
The "The Universe/the Earth/Life/Human beings are the result of naturalistic forces that lack the imposed purpose(s) of a guiding intelligence" thing that they seem to have a weird hangup about.
They seem to think that without a divine purpose, and no afterlife, an Atheist can only be depressed with their pointless, temporary existence.
I know, it doesn't make any sense, but many Theists hold to that for some reason.
SOCRATIC is right, at least to a point. Many theists do think that way. The idea in their head is that you can't possibly be happy without the hope of heaven. Oddly enough, Jews are probably the only group of theists that DON'T feel that way, because there are plenty of us that don't believe in an Afterlife, simply because the Torah says nothing about one. I personally do believe in an Afterlife of ultimate Paradise (or, if you're really awful, soul extinction, as I don't believe in eternal torment in hell), but plenty of Jews don't. And even assuming I'm wrong about the Afterlife, and there isn't one, I don't care much.
The presence or lack of an Afterlife would not let me off of obedience to the Law of Moses. The Law is the Law. We follow it because it is the Law, rather than because we fear what happens when we die. What happens when we are wormfood is entirely irrelevant to our behaviour now.
So personally, since I am not affected by the presence or lack of an Afterlife, about which existence I might be incorrect, then I don't see why that would affect an atheist in any way. That is my own, Jewish perspective on the matter.
EDIT:
And yes, it is almost physically painful to have to admit that SOCRATIC and I could be on the same page about something!