I've had intimations of this idea before, it's never been as accentuated in my mind as it is now (given the world's political dissension). In the aftermath of the enlightenment, Nietzsche posited the necessity of transcendental values (not to be conflated with a transcendental being), and claimed that scientific introspection in the west would inevitably result in his famed 'last men'.

I think his writings (and those of a number of other existentialists), in part, overlay the conjecture that there exists in each individual an inherent metaphysical 'will' of sorts - responsible for both apprehending against life's most adversarial tragedies, and combatting them - that forms the basis of one's morality.

Without this will manifesting itself as it is meant to, nihilism is inevitable. The objective 'truth' of this belief is irrelevant: it is merely the belief that forms a necessity to the sustenance of one's life.

If one accepts this proposition as having truth, then one must account for why this will isn't a conscious one (atheists and antitheists will disagree). If that were to be the case, could our collectivized behavior have immersed it into an unconscious motive? Several Jungian archetypes, for instance, share close interrelations with religious ideals.

This might also explain (partly) why droves of individuals are willing to abandon all their moral virtues, and commit reprehensible acts under authoritarian dictates. Having replaced the conscious manifestation of the transcendent (atheism), the unconscious may still reassert itself in the infallibility of a political ideal.