I understand that you despise religion. Most athiests today despise religion as well. This is because in history, religion has been used as a tool to keep people in their place. I have two points and these points are quite related.
1. Religion is misused by governments. The emperor says that God is saying this, and the people, ignorant as they are, just believe him. They don't check it and compare it with their holy book. That's why religion seems to fail.
2. Atheism can be used the same way. Scientists can say one thing, then there's nothing a person can say against that because they're not scientifically educated. People instead just blindly follow what their idols (scientists, science) say and do. The peer review thing is great, but humans are still fallible and humans are still corrupt and humans are still biased. It's the same for religion. If people would just actually read what their worshipping maybe they would understand that emperors are just power hungry suckers who use anything as a tool, including science.