Why can't people just be good people without having to call themselves "Christians"?

For a very long time I considered myself to be a Christian. Lately, that has changed very much. I'm still a good person, not perfect by any means, (and neither is anyone else) but I refuse to call myself a Christian anymore. Religion has caused so much pain and suffering throughout the years...it's no longer something that I want to be a part of. Unfortunately, as I said, I've considered myself to be one for so long that pretty much everyone that I know, friends and family, consider themselves to be Christian as well...they are all hypocrites. Don't get me wrong, most of them are good people...I know a lot of good people, just like myself, but I don't know very many good Christians...not according to the standard that Christians are supposed to be. I have never met one Christian that hasn't broken those commandments that we were supposed to live by. As a matter of fact, I've never been hurt by a non-Christian, only by other "Christians". So instead of making bogus excuses about how "Christians aren't perfect" why not just stop calling yourselves that. Why not stop giving yourselves very unrealistic standards to live by? Why not just try to be good human beings? You see, I used to have expectations for people who called themselves Christians, I used to think that there was something divinely special about them that made them care more for others than non-Christians...well, I know that isn't true any more...when I realized that it really, really disappointed me and broke my heart. I had tried so hard to live up to what the pastor taught me...only to learn that he himself (nor his family) actually were living up to what he preached from the pulpit and they weren't truly holding themselves accountable either. After much time, thought and heartache, I can no longer live this lie and I wish that others wouldn't either. I believe that religion was first created as a means for control and still to this day, it is being used for the same purpose...people are still killing and being killed in the name of religion. People are still being shunned in the name of religion. People are still trying to control the lives of others, simply because of religious beliefs. Why would anyone want to be a part of something like this? I hope that this makes sense to someone out there. I don't believe that I'm any better than anyone who considers them self to be Christian...I just don't believe that they are any better than anyone who doesn't so for that reason I feel that we should just all try to be good people instead and accept others as they are because there's no real reason not to when none of us are perfect anyway.