I just wrote on another post. "Religion is all about training yourself to accept delusions, and when once you have trained yourself to accept one, the same skill works perfectly for all the others." Including the delusion that you are honest and caring, even when you are being fraudulent and selfish.

When I left Mormonism, I spent some time on a former Mormon bulletin board. Some posters reported that more scams were committed on people in Utah where Mormons have been concentrated than anywhere in the US. The reason is that Mormons are taught to trust other Mormons because they are supposed to be more h9nest than other people and (imo) Mormons are taught they are supposed to have the Holy Spirit to guide them - to tell them what the truth is con earning all things. In the end, it's BS, and Mormons are vulnerable to being deceived by a con man claiming to be a Mormon.

Don't worry, we are all far from perfect, hang around here long enough, and you will be convinced we are far from vastly superior to all believers. We may or may not be smarter, but we are definitely better at critical thinking and have greater moral courage than most believers. In other words, we are more comfortable and open about being ourselves, even if we are outnumbered, than most believers, who tend to freak out if they are outnumbered or confronted about being out of the mainstream.

I can agree with you fully because I am an atheist who studied to be a preacher in earlier life. In the end there simply was no evidence for gods. I'm not sure this makes me smarter than believers but it gives me less fear. I have a religious friend that I first met when we were kids. Sometimes we talk on the phone and if it becomes his dinner time his wife wants him off the phone ASAP. He tells me they are going to eat now and as we hang up I hear him praying, "we love you lord, oh, yes, we really do." I find it funny and all a big crock. Is he convincing an invisible being that he loves him? Is this desperation? Most likely he has more stress than I do.

About your statement "we" are "100% smarter" than those that believe "the God Fraud," as you put it:
Firstly, the fact we have different beliefs doesn't make agnostics/atheists smarter. RIGHT about things like Covid, yes, although some of "us" are just as ignorant as "they" are, which proves my point.
About god? For the millionth time, we're not all atheists. Speaking strictly for myself, while I agree 'god' is almost certainly not a celestial being, I don't necessarily dismiss the word outright, or cede it to the religionists. I simply don't know if there's a 'god' or not.
A "fraud?" That's a little harsh, isn't it? "Fraud" is a deliberate misrepresentation, a criminal deception, for personal gain. WRONG, perhaps, but a "fraud?" Granted, SOME professing faith in the giant cloudman in the sky ARE frauds, using the pretense of belief to cheat people out of money. But I think most religionists genuinely believe what they are saying.
Misguided, brainwashed, sure, but stupid frauds? I think that's going too far.
Maybe a niggling point, but there it is.

But you know, you just have to know, that anti-vaxxers (or climate change deniers, etc.) are the heroes of the story in their own minds. They, like the religious, are true believers who really do think they have cracked the code and accessed a higher truth that the rest of us have been blinded to. We are “lost in darkness” or victims of misinformation, not they. As for personal morality, religionists tend to believe their own propaganda, which continuously informs them that they are at the top of the moral pyramid. Their certainty in this regard is pretty much just a trained response. That is to say, groupthink.

Some of the most moral people I've met have been non denominational Christians, they just don't have a critical bone in their body is the issue. Also most of the worst people I've ever met have been Christians of some sort, the laugh now cry later type of people. Makes sense when 98% of inmates claim to have religious beliefs.

There's a couple covidiots on here.....smh

As an Agnostic person who worked in churches for years, I can attest to the truth of that! As a general rule, religious people are untrustworthy backstabbers, with only a few exceptions.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was America's greatest writer imo, and a wonderful man!