I am an atheist as I came to that conclusion through empirical reasoning, introspection and self actualisation. I started as a kid agnostic but developed more with experience. I've done the hardest thing of questioning my own reality and existence that I can develop a basis for my beliefs.

We're talking past each other so let my give an example, this is like voting. A lot of people will just follow the herd and vote the way their friends, family or those they hold in high regard tell them to vote. They don't take the time to research their candidates, their track record or if they are vulnerable to certain influences. These people that are easily swayed should not vote.

I said before, I'm not uncritical of religion but atheism should not be seen as 'the natural progression', because we already had that, atheism+ and look at them now, mostly leftists nowadays gone deep on the kool-aid

I have MANY examples of where having a higher power to refer to stops people from acting out worse outcomes, many of those instances those people have authority through religion.

We can see the effects of adopting a more secular approach in the west, people shifted to embrace leftist values, same thing happened under Stalin and communism. There a fewer people that can make their own morality than those that simply adopt one that's offered to them. That latter is the point of religions.

You're taking it as a personal attack when the point I'm making is this: 'a person is smart, people are dumb, panicky, dangerous and you know it'. humanityis NOT as evolved as we like to fool ourselves to be, thinking that everyone can embrace the concept that there is no god, no afterlife and that this is the only life without them being desperate to embrace ANYTHING else to give them meaning is a bit foolish given what we see here everyday on here..