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Why did Lucretius describe Epicurus as a liberator from religious fear?

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Bronze bust of Epicurus with a full beard and draped clothing, displayed on a round inscribed base at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. — Epicureanism Epicurus, bronze bust from a Greek original, c. 280–270 bce; in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

In his poem De rerum natura, Lucretius portrays Epicurus as a liberator because he provided a physical understanding of the universe that dismantled the paralyzing influence of religious fear.12

Lucretius argued that humanity was often oppressed by "religious" fear—manifesting as threats of eternal punishment after death, anxiety over divine intervention, and the superstitions of seers who interpreted natural phenomena like thunder and lightning as divine omens. By teaching that the universe is composed of atoms and void, and that the gods live remotely and unconcerned with human affairs, Epicurus removed the basis for these fears.132

For Lucretius, this philosophical insight was a triumph that allowed humans to overcome the terror of the afterlife and the gods, ultimately enabling them to pursue a life of happiness characterized by the absence of mental turmoil and bodily pain. By demonstrating that death is merely the dissolution of the soul's atoms, Epicurus helped followers realize that "death is nothing to us," thereby freeing them from the dread that had long disordered human lives.13