Agreed. In all honesty, if religion had never been created, rulers would have just invented some other reason to incite people and take power (not casting doubt on faith, just offering my input).

It's called the Vocal Minority. The majority of atheists you know probably haven't told you about it, because it's irrelevant whether you believe in a god or not, as all that matters is if you're a good person. Even if they had told you, they likely just mentioned it in passing and you forgot.

The Vocal Minority however, make it very clear that they are atheists, and anyone who believes in a higher power is a dumbass and religion is the root of all the world's ills. Every group has these guys. Christians have them; atheists have them, Republicans have them; Democrats have them. The problem is that they're the ones who stick in your mind, but don't worry, it's not a symptom of being an atheist; it's a symptom of being an asshole.

As for why atheism sometimes seems to be the most vocal of Vocal Minorities, at least on the internet, my personal theory is that it's the fact that atheists usually come to the conclusion that there is no god of their own accord. It makes you feel cheated, and angry, and makes you want to expose "the great lie" to everyone. This is of course compounded by the fact that age 13 to 16 seems to be the most likely age to become an atheist, and that's the age where you're most convinced that you're right about everything.

So for a brief moment after losing faith, atheists are just as likely to become angry prophets of non-belief as born-again Christians are of becoming prophets of Jesus. Most everybody grows out of it though.

Signed,
Someone who's gone through the process

Athiesm is just lack of believing in a higher diety. You are linking Athiesm to 'douchebaggery' and 'everything that is wrong in the world'. You just validated OP's picture.

Just because YOU see a 'majority' in your life behaving themselves that way, doesnt mean everyone is like that. For example, I see the majority of religious people that I know bashing on Athiests all the time, without bringing any good arguments for doing so. Just because "It is said in the bible to do so" or some shit.

Everyone knows the same is happening on both sides. But since 90% of the world is still religious and still has a great 'anger' for people who are not religious, more of the hate towards athiesm happens than the other way around.