... a country where atheism was forced upon them from 1948 to the early 1980s.
If it were possible to force a belief/disbelief on a people, there would be no dissenters in that particular country. No such country exists, which is proof positive of the error of your assertion.
That isn't really what Hope is saying though, in that he is pointing out a country where general religious freedom was suppressed, not that it was successful. The problem as often covered elsewhere is that seeking to equate an ideology such as communism with what atheism is, is as flawed as stating that all theists are like ISIS.
And before the cookie monster reacts that it is what I did earlier, I would point out that it was him Co opting all Muslims as part of his 'team' that lead me to point out that would necessitate supporting ISIS, unless he wanted to indulge in a No True Muslim fallacy. The whole stuff with numbers that people indulge in just leads to this, and in that sense Hope is entirely right. Indulge in the 'we are all atheists/theists/cocksuckers together' pish and you end up effectively supporting any deranged nutter who is part of that grouping.
You also gain nothing since it is either a vacuous ad populum, or a sort of knee hugging smarmy we're winning and you smell to other people.