Do Atheists and Theist accept that empathy is the most important characteristic our being?

I'm a misanthropist. I hate humanity, but I still have a desire to see the species become more than the pettiness that I see on a daily basis. Emotion inspires greed, pride, lust, rage, yeah, yeah, yeah it's the 7 deadly sins. They're the things that make humanity what it is and simultaneously what makes me find humanity so disgusting. If those could be set aside it would be so simple to just realize that if you help the person next to you and they do the same everything will balance out in the long run.