If you actually have to look for an answer instead of believing "it got magicked there by religion" it could raise your intelligence.
I suspect this is why we tend to look smarter as a group.

There are studies that show atheists are among the groups with the highest average IQs, but close scrutiny would show a significant margin of error in any such study. I think some of the most intelligent people like Steven Hawking, Albert Einstein, and Neil deGrades Tyson (who doesn't consider himself atheist, but doesn't believe in gods either) are atheist. In contrast to them though you have people like Michio Kaku, Georges LeMaître, and Sir Isaac Newton.

I also know of atheists (now anyway) who believe in the healing power of crystals, the law of attraction, ghosts, etc. So, I have to say, we atheists definitely do not have license to claim intellectual superiority simply by virtue of our atheism.

Well we're smarter in so far as not falling for ridiculous and obvious bullshit goes. However there are some atheists/agnostics that still support Trump so clearly there are exceptions to any rule.

I tend to go with the idea that there's all kinds of smart, and there's all kinds of stupid. I reckon it helps me explain away some confusions.

Meh I'm not sure about inherently smarter, but I think our lack of preoccupation with theistic ideals/traditions gives us more time to ponder other things.

Also our more skeptical disposition is a basic cornerstone of science itself.
Hypothesis, study, and conclusion.

Also given that we heard, and/or read the works of whatever religion we were raised with and called bullshit on it. So many agnostics/atheists also aren't prone to just accept the first thing they hear either.

All of these things rolled together do give a large advantage, and a keener wit. Although there are those few religious folks that are intelligent, and they are a lovely change of pace to talk to.

For those folks they've achieved a faith/life balance that can sometimes be a fun balancing act to watch, there's a loophole somewhere in their logic. Most commonly it's the "god of the gaps" argument 'it has not been proven yet by science, so therefore it's god' basically.

On average, atheists are more intelligent than the general population. But there are plenty of not-too-bright atheists out there. It’s just that people who are more intelligent are more likely to be atheists than not smart people.

Atheists are more intelligent than religious people, research finds:

[independent.co.uk]

Educated people are more likely to be atheists:

[psychologytoday.com]

Open mind is key. There are a bunch of ex-believers. I am always careful to be humble in life, it's hard when you're as smart as I am. Lol

Me too. I just can’t understand it. Why would an intelligent person allow themselves to be limited? I thought intelligent people were open minded.

It is tempting to think we're smarter but intelligence is just potential (like a fast CPU in a computer but you can still run crappy software or whatever). Even less intelligent people can be taught critical thinking skills. Even smart people can engage in confirmation bias.

It's really a question of commitment to clear thinking and learning how to do it and being disciplined at it, because even smart people are prone to sloppy thinking or can be lazy. The human brain is a sloppy pile of goo that is slow, forgetful and easily distracted by bright shiny objects (real or imagined). It's astounding that it works as well as it does.

Yeah..statistically, agnostics are higher IQ than the general population.

The reason why atheists are more intelligent than religious people, according to researchers - they are able to reason above their base instincts! [independent.co.uk]

However, my high IQ siblings, who were raised abroad as missionary kids in Haiti, a black country, and who have college degrees and high status careers, who seldom attend church and seem liberal, are almost all Trump followers.
Weird.

When I talk to them, they sound just like all the other alt-right nut cases..everything negative about Trump is "fake news," they only watch Fox News, they think Trump's finally running the country "right," so I conclude they are racist white supremacists.

Apparently, wanting a white America is the main factor behind religious people following Trump.

no but maybe more open to changing our minds there are some brick shit stupid atheists on this site no one group can say they are smarter its a ridiculous concept just be happy if you are open to listening then re-evaluating your stance based on what you have learned

‘Smarter,’ or possessing more intelligence & integrity?