Do religious nuts know deep down that their beliefs are ridiculous?

I've been thinking a lot about why religious people are so offended by someone questioning their beliefs, analyzing their dogma, or presenting contradictory ideas, and the only reasoning i can come up with is that they are fragile and unconvinced of their own core values, and afraid that it could come crashing down around them.

Why else would it matter that someone disagrees? I am confident in a few things in this world, and if someone disagrees about those things, i don't really care. It's not threatening or personal. I can trust my own values and reasoning. It feels like swaths of religious nuts are participating in what they know deep down is a shared fantasy, and are terrified that someone could expose them at any moment.

We see this behaviour in politics and other social settings where someone tells a lie, a group pushes a narrative because it benefits them, and everyone relies on eachother to twist facts and uphold the shared fantasy. Then, when the stories or conclusions are challenged, the challenger is devalued and attacked. The ideas are so intrinsic to one's identity and past life choices that it becomes near impossible to break the delusion without some personal trauma.

So it becomes easier to force those around them to conform than to look inward. Control of non-believers becomes essential to their self-preservation.

And all because deep down, possibly hidden from conscious thought, they know it's all rubbish.

Thoughts?

There are obviously also grifters who don't even delude themselves with false belief. I'm thinking more of the average pious ma and pop.