Yes, I hate it when people say they are going to pray for me. It's so condescending. It's similar to when Mormons seek out your birth records, and those of your ancestors and consecrate them as Mormons post mordem. That is the height of disrespect in my opinion.
As far as 'becoming an atheist," I really don't like to put it that way. Atheism is not something you become, as if it were a religion or a choice. In my opinion, atheism is just the default position, in the absence of evidence or proof. In other words, if you don't know for certain, via strong evidence or proof, that a blob exists, you have no business believing in the blob. If you believe in the blob without sufficient evidence that just makes you an idiot.
The only other rational response to a lack of evidence is posibly agnostic. But, I cannot identify with any of the definitions I have heard for agnosticism (one reason is that the definitions for agnosticism are as varied as the people who claim to be agnostic) because agnostics entertain the idea that god (the blob) might exist in spite of there being no evidence of its existence. My current stance is that I simply do not believe in the blob. It's not that I have disconfirming evidence of the blob, I simply lack any belief in god because there is not a scrap of evidence suggesting such a creature. I do not believe in god (the blob) end of story.
The blob could be proven to exist, and that is another point at which I diverge from agnosticism. It would be a very simple thing for the blob to prove its existence. It could be done in an infinite amount of different ways, and all debate would stop if it were done correctly. In such a scenario disbelief in god would be like the flat earth theory, nearly everyone on the planet would stop being atheist instantly.