Any worship of anything else was a threat. It seems that you imply that atheism leads to group think. Isn't that assertion more true of religion?
No. It's counterintuitive, but actually religious people are less collectivist than atheists. Because religious people have their God, that gives them the morality, from inside, whether that is true or not, religious people are more introvert in that sense.
However atheists dont believe in a God, which means that they will create it for themselves, through Government. And Government will be an external God, that is much more brutal, and much more evil than any other deity would be.
- Omniscient: Surveilance
- Omnipotent: Military + Police
- Reward/Punish: Welfare / Jail
- Forgive: Parole
- Eternal: Rebirths every 4 year.
etc, you get the idea...