Atheism is a faith structure too, and the circumstantial act of being born in a situation that leads one towards atheism clearly does not make one “superior”.
The leap of faith taken by (informed) atheists mostly pertains to the puzzle of the beginning, because of the issue of cause and effect; why is there something rather than nothing? In the broadest terms there are two answers to this problem: a supernatural force of design or creation, or some as yet undiscovered physical law.
The limitations of the human mind may mean one, neither or both of these principles could be unknowable, and therefore the decision to believe one more than the other will ultimately be based on more material factors, such as the desire to conform, or the desire to “sound right”.
With that being said, it is entirely possible even with our meagre tools of logical deduction, to refute almost every fundamental tenet of the Abrahamic religions. The most powerful example of this, at least in my opinion, is the utter incoherence of divine reward and punishment, given the problem of free will.
To very briefly summarise this problem, we know that every event must be caused, our own thoughts are events subject to the chain of causality, therefore we are powerless to act in a way that breaks the chain of cause and effect.
In other words, a system where God rewards certain acts and punishes others would make no sense, because he will have set the chain in motion knowing its outcomes, unless of course he lacks the quality of omniscience.
Debating these topics with the religious is not intolerant or elitist, assuming one does not enter the conversation unwilling to be challenged. There are caveats to the above argument, and there are Christian sects like Calvinism that are based on our lack of free will.
However, if a religious person is presented with an argument that challenges them, and refuses to engage it (in an appropriate setting, I’m not advocating approaching randoms on the street), then it is not unreasonable to assume they are intellectually incapable or morally deficient (given the massive atrocities committed by organised religions).
