Oh boy are you in for a rude awakening. It doesn't matter what smart people believe if enough stupid people are convinced of something else. You're using examples from times of very low information distribution to form expectations about the opposite condition, which is already problematic, and ignoring all nonsensical superstition that used to be the norm.

When I was growing up I remember a minor local mania over a supposed miracle at a religious shrine which became a summer sensation. People were charting tour buses to say prayers and hoping to witness a miracle themselves. Right now in the US we have a community of people who have been enthusiastically chanting at political rallies about locking their opponents up for the last 3 years without any apparent care for evidence or factual basis. Obviously political rallies are known for their hyperbole but at some point you have to feed the beast.