Patricia Heaton tells atheist to 'dig a little deeper' in Twitter exchange about God and prayer

Actress Patricia Heaton recently had an interesting discussion about prayer and God's existence with her followers on Twitter.

The exchange stemmed from a quote that the star of "The Middle" shared on Twitter, which came from a Carmelite nun. Heaton wrote, "You come to realize very soon, that prayer isn't something you do, it's something that God does that you're open to. And so the more you try to be open to God, surrendered to Him, His life flows into us in prayer."

Non-believers replied by asking questions or sharing why they didn't believe in God, and thus didn't feel they had a need to pray.

One Twitter user wondered why Heaton, who openly shares her Christian faith to her nearly 400,000 followers, believes so much in God's existence when this hasn't been "100 percent" proven. Another Twitter follower claimed that the idea of God was perpetuated to instill fear in people, "that if they didn't do as they were told, bad things would happen."

Heaton interjected that she believes there's more evidence about God's existence than there is about His non-existence and she told her followers to "dig a little deeper." But when the atheist suggested it was best to stop digging, the actress replied, "Never stop digging."

Heaton has had a number of exchanges with non-believers on social media in the past but she always responded with kindness. Last year, an atheist also challenged the actress' belief in God and it elicited a heated discussion among her followers. Nevertheless, Heaton didn't take offence.

Meanwhile, the TV mom recently returned from a humanitarian trip to Uganda with World Vision. She helped prepare meals and shared hundreds of prayers from her followers for the refugees.