Comment by mindslight

I'm an atheist too, but I still see religions as having embedded wisdom - both descriptive of how past societies failed, and prescriptive in that they are parts of the foundations of our present societies.

(Of course they also have a lot of details that are easy to latch onto as mere justifications for doing immoral things. And as moral people move on from traditional religion, then the share of people merely using it as crutch for immorality grows)

The archetype of a leader who engages in abjectly evil behavior while gathering ever more power and followers under a charm spell certainly rings true. But the dynamic is probably more like an individual being particularly adept at releasing the floodgates for our own worst impulses, rather than some supernatural power.