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Notes -
I can think of one line of reasoning to refute this argument: what if your success is owed far more to factors other than your ideals? If you were born smart, handsome and wealthy, you're probably going to be succesful even with the most vapid ideals. If you were born poor, ugly and sick then the path to success and happiness is going to be a hard one even if you're guided by the best ideals.
While the majority of people are just not consistent and don't explicitly follow ideals, I think this is a large part of the problem. There are plenty of strict vegans and Muslims out there exemplifying their ideals, but are you persuaded? If you don't share the core moral religious belief in the first place then the discipline someone exemplifies in following a religious rule isn't more impressive than any other type of discipline, it's just odd.
For example you say that religious people are more likely to thrive, but do they thrive in a sense that say a feminist could agree on? Both sides exemplify their ideals, neither side sees something they want to imitate. Outside of the stuff most people agree on like health and wealth, persuading people that an example of your values being adhered to is an example of something good means grappling directly with the moral question.
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