Religious leaders have convinced them so

They are so invested in their religion and have such low self esteem, because they only equate their self worth in terms of 'God loves me even though I'm unworthy."they cannot grasp that people can function without religion.

Religion is part of their make-up. It is their lens, and everything is viewed through that. So there's cognitive bias there. A second part is they think it allows them to create an equivalence between the two positions -> both require faith if both are religions, so it's a push. No - it isn't. As Bill Maher said, atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position.

It is for the exact same reason they don't see that their religion is an alternate reality.

Cause they need to think, that cause they were so brainwashed by whatever religion they were raised in that you need it in your life, if that makes sense

Group think is a big part of Religion. They go to church and act as a community. There are rules that they enforce on anyone that wants to be part of that community. It is completely alien to them that we could agree on one thing and act as a community without everyone having to follow the same set of rules. The amount of questions I here that start with, 'Do atheist believe', is ridiculous. Some of them honestly believe that there is a sacred text we all follow. That we actual follow scientist in the same way they follow preachers. It's the way their world works and they are unable to comprehend the idea that we don't need all those rules.