Religion seem to have a negative connotation to atheists. And it is completely justified. The most bitter wars were started in some ways had ties to religion. I would argue that there is no "atheism". When you deny a certain religion, you are believing that it is not true; since most of the time you cannot disprove a religion's authenticity. You can see how some countries who claims to have no religion adopt their own set of morals and ethics to follow by; is that not religious ideas?
Another point,
Religion is so powerful is because of the moral relativism innate in atheism. When chaos and social disparity becomes overwhelming, religion unites people under a single moral code, whether that be "good" or "bad", it is unity nonetheless.