Does Atheism Need to be Rebranded?

[Shell B]

An excuse as good as religion?

Elitism. Racism. Patriotism. There are a lot of isms that do not have to be connected to religion to justify hate.

I'm not sure where I heard it, but there was a very convincing argument as to why religion is so suited to foster hate, violence and all that other stuff - its because religion has no reality-check.

Hate doesn't really have a reality check, either. I could find a logical reason to hate anyone, if I wanted to. I could even find good reasons to hate myself, I'm sure. Sure, religions fosters the fuck out of hate. It gives people an omnipotent being on their side. That is one hell of a delusion. People don't need it to hate, though. They don't need it in the slightest. We still have borders and nationalities to hate over.

Any other philosophy, political ideology or belief system can be used to foster hate and violence, but eventually, it'd fail as an excuse in face of simply not working. The reason why religion is such a good excuse is because what it promises (heaven or better next-life) is by nature unverifiable.

Well, that gives it shelf-life, for sure. I simply don't believe that lack of religion will lessen hate or "evil" in the slightest.