I believe that religious people are self-righteous hypocrites.

Many of them have a superiority complex and think we are all low-life sinners.

Although to be fair, many of us atheists have a bit of a superiority complex ourselves and think they are all gullible and incapable of thinking for themselves.

there delusional but they're not all mean the same as none believers aren't all nice.

I don't believe Christians are mean... just insecure about their faith. I narrowed down your "religious" people to Christians because they are the only ones that lack respect for other religion. There is a lot of holes in their belief. They require justification to validate their faith. Because of this lack of respect and need for validation, they come off as defensive rude poop chute.

"Mean" people and the power of authority go hand in hand. Religion gives these people the opportunity to exert authority. As we often see, religion doesn't actually mean anything to them.

Around here, folks attend church Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, and often more (bible study, choir practice, etc). I think meanness is delivered from the pulpit and pervades from there because it's repeated multiple times per week. The meanness is largely directed outward (from the tribe). However, WITHIN, folks are often unkind, too. Church congregations are still splitting over disagreements. That was not limited to the reformation.

I’d say they assume ‘offense is their best defense’… Deep down, they know it’s BS. And, they’ve an angry gnawing guilt over their inability to rise above it. So they project that anger onto anyone - anyone showing the courage they lack to either question or reject it. They likely hate themselves a tad more than others… Sick, weak, angry and dangerous ..people.