Religion can temper this "self inflating bias" by stressing humility. And then religion can lead to heightened self-righteousness and implicit hypocrisy.
In my estimation anyone who cares about her/his chararacter, who seeks to live a moral life, should reflect on the common phenomenon that cuts two ways: underestimating the moral behavior of others and overestimating one's own behavior
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Great post, Ed, and a great challenge.
As a Christian, many times over the years I've heard selected verses from Romans chapter 1 used to denounce a range of sins, but (probably due to the inopportune chapter break imposed on Paul's original letter), they never proceed to the balancing verse that kicks off chapter 2:
"You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things."
The NYT article and your comment beg the questions of "What is moral?" and "How does morality originate?"
Regarding origin of morality: see Steven Pinker's NY Times magazine article, Moral Instinct. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/magazine/13Psychology-t.html
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