it may be "instinct" but the particulars had to be invented. let's be generous and say a man at some point wasn't just a grifting shaman, but had the best of intentions to provide morals lessons to his tribe through mythology. he was self-aware that he was inventing it all. the names of the gods were pulled out of his own head, then communicated to others, then became tradition, but the at the point of origin he was in effect an atheist. so perhaps we need instead to divide people into a paternalistic way amongst those receipts of religion, and those who create it,.those who can "handle" the reality of harsh truth and those who need comforting lies to get them through. so in the end perhaps those atheists who an heroed should not have been dabbling in atheism, should not have gone into the kitchen if they couldn't handle the heat,
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