i mean not to generalize but a lot of self-described "atheists" are actually still beholden to the same framework of religious thinking they claim to be free of because they were raised that way from birth so they still see the world as metaphysical and expect things like karmic reward, social balance, universally ordained morality etc.

they just insist it's not religion. it's "spirituality" or less, it doesn't even have a name and it's an a priori assumption. they're easily swayed from that neutral, non-committal state to other ideologies.