You seem to have come up against some pretty unusual Jesuits, Steve. I certainly wouldn't count them as "your average Jesuit"! That just isn't how any I've met operate. They'd be delighted to start a discussion from a position of no prior assumptions. Probably prefer it.

Of course there might have been a misunderstanding about what your existing views were. If you give the impression you believe in God that'd be a different starting point for a discussion than when it's understood you don't.