Are religious believers more gullible than others?

It’s always been my opinion that religious beliefs always affect critical thinking, and as a result, if someone believes literally in the teaching of a sacred book like the bible that is filled with myths, there is always a danger in believing in a host of unproven assertions. 

I’m not talking about people that are “casual” members of a religions and don’t have genuine faith, but more so about folks that are fully invested into their religious beliefs and make them part of their daily life. 

These people, in my opinion are more likely to be at risk of believing stories that “sound good enough to be legit” and by so doing, constitute a fertile soil for being taken advantage of by unscrupulous politicians, peddlers and other swindlers.

In general these deep believers have been indoctrinated into their religious faith as kids, when the where naturally gullible. Even for those of them who eventually lost some or all of their faith, the consequences of early indoctrination stick to them like an old chewing-gum. 

On top of this, they have been trained and instructed never to doubt or even question the tenets of the religion they were told about. This fear of doubting unavoidably influence non-religious statements or beliefs that are forced onto them by less-than-honest individuals, and make them a perfect target for such deviant abuse. 

For instance, the state of Utah, where I live, is sadly famous for all kind of fraud targeting members of its main Mormon faithfuls. Far-right politicians are also praying in the same way on evangelical christian communities in America that culturally believe in far-fetched religious stories of rapture or miraculous powers of religion. 

When all is said and done, blind belief, this other form of “religious poison” is also quite widespread and can be activated in no time to mislead individuals that are deeply faithful and take advantage of them for all kinds of reasons and purposes.