Comment 6 by Tony d :

I keep hearing how critical thinking and general knowledge are a path to escaping from religion.It seems that people with normal intelligence have to make a concious effort to suppress their own rationality in order to keep believing in their religion which ever one that may be. Making a virtue of faith makes a virtue of gullibility and stupidity.This gives abnormally gullible and stupid people an environment in which they can excel.Because religion comes easily to them. Where as normal people have to keep talking themselves into it.

The vast majority of the world is religious. The vast majority of the world is not "gullible and stupid". But I agree that the vast majority of the world does not think rationally. We're all victims of confirmation bias, herd mentality, self-justification, cognitive dissonance, ego, and a host of other things that can lead to religious thinking... and you have to be not only aware of these limiting factors but actually striving to avoid them. I don't believe that being rational is natural or easy, and so it's still rare.