"Humanity" as an entity with purpose or a mind is substantively the same as a deity from my perspective.

It's an abstract concept that is analogous to a single human, that is supposed to exist without a specific location in space and time, and has free will, causes things to happen and/or is blamed for them. And I see the same lack of empirical evidence for the concept.

So, yes, you may not see it as the same thing, but I quite definitely do.