The ONLY thing that cures
stupidity is
thought.
The only thing that cures ignorance is study.
The only thing that cures closed-mindedness is exposure.
The only thing that cures open-mindedness is self-confidence.
Oh, yes, being open-minded can be just as much a problem as being closed-minded. I know plenty of people who don't dare have a thought themselves, because that's just a 'point of view'. People tend to abandon their ideas faster and faster nowadays, because it's not PC to have your own ideas. Somehow, people manage to get upset over a strong-minded person. I can't imagine why.
I know plenty of intelligent religious persons. I also know plenty of stupid atheists. I've learned there really isn't much of a correlation between atheism and intelligence. Some people just become a special kind of stupid. You have to be pretty smart to be that certain kind of stupid...
Still, in general, I've found that people with at least a healthy dose of doubt about religion in general are, on average, more intelligent, and definitely more interesting. I don't try to explain this correlation; I just note it.
Really, it's the ones who are dead sure they are right, and then TAKE IT AS A PERSONAL OFFENSE when someone disagrees with them, those are the people that scare the bejesus out of me. Whether we're talking atheist or religious, it's those that take your ideas as an offense against their's that frighten me.