I think religions have prevailed, precisely because they are designed to discourage and devalue objective critical thinking. I think this because it is manifest in every piece of religious apologetics I have ever encountered.
Religions “stack the deck”, it’s part of the indoctrination process. I vividly remember a confirmation class where I was 12, and was asked to leave by a priest in his late 50’s, for being facetious, he felt I wasn’t taking his claims for miracles seriously enough, he was right. Given what some children suffered at the hands of their priests, I feel I shouldn’t complain, but nonetheless it was a clear early example of religious indoctrination stifling critical observations of its claims. Of course I was too young to fully grasp the significance.
Indeed, it’s amusing how often visiting apologists try to pretend otherwise though. How often are we asked what evidence it would take for us to believe in a deity, but I have never encountered one who could offer anything that would make them abandon belief in their chosen version of their chosen deity.