Could atheist westerners, please explain?

[abaris]

No, I am not delusional. If you look at where most of the planet was in antiquity, which was mostly local and tribal, vs how the west is more pluralistic and more civil, it is not unrealistic to foster a long term attitude. I don't fool myself into thinking there will be a day in a perfectly civil world. But we can and should do as much as we can to promote a more civil world.

What you always fail to see, since you're that fixated on religion being behind everything, is that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict started out and still is a nationalistic and political conflict. The motivations of the fighters changed over the decades, but the problem is still the same.

We're not exactly strangers to that. Even in our more recent history, as we can see with Ukraine, former Yugoslavia or the nationalist parties having a field day in many parts of Europe. Also using appeals to religion, but not being motivated by it.