Religiosity and "Intelligence"

[redstar2000]

It's a sort of common-sense observation that people who are atheists are "smarter" than people who are superstitious; they have "better brains" that "see through the con" more easily than those who get suckered in.

Trying to "nail this down" scientifically is a difficult task...because it's hard to scientifically define what we actually mean by "intelligence".

Nevertheless, attempts have been made...


Originally posted by Wikipedia
All but four of the forty-three polls listed support the conclusion that native intelligence varies inversely with degree of religious faith; i.e., that, other factors being equal, the more intelligent a person is, the less religious he is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence


Another study found that mathematicians were just over 40%, biologists just under 30%, and physicists were barely over 20% likely to believe in God.

Those figures seem quite high...but perhaps only Americans were polled. I would surmise that in civilized countries, almost all scientists are atheists.

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[LSD]

Well, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if people of higher intelligence were less likely to be taken in by "religous" conmen, but I think that it's important to recognize the social factor at play here.

For one thing, IQ tests are notoriously controversial, but they do tend to be quite accurate in measuring educational aptitude. That is, people who do well on IQ tests, also do well on real tests and so tend to do well in school.

Accordingly, people whith higher IQs tend to be more educated and I have no doubt that the more you actually understand about the world, the less likely you are to accept supserstitious dogma.

Furthermore, there is an established positive correlation between IQ scores and class. The higher ones social standing, the better one tends to do on standardized tests.

Therefore, for a lot of people, it probably isn't their "low intelligence" that makes them "turn to God", but their poverty. The worse off one is in the temporal world, the more likely one is to seek a "spiritual" one.

I have no doubt whatsoever, that all else being equal and intelligence notwithstanding, a reduction in social disparity will result in the reduction of "faith" across the board.

For evidence of this, one need only look at levels of religious belief in the US as compared with the rest of the wester world. The US' lack of a significant social welfare system has clearly made a mark on the collective "souls" of its people.

No wonder the religious right is so opposed to socialism! :lol:

[ComradeOm]

I've yet to see any law that says that smart people can't believe in stupid ideas.

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2006, 07:28 AM
I've yet to see any law that says that smart people can't believe in stupid ideas.
I haven't either! :lol:

But we're speaking here of large scale statistical aggregates...who is more likely to get suckered?

The social factors that LSD mentioned are highly relevant, to be sure.

But supposing we could arrange a test "with all other factors being equal", what would be the outcome?

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[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

The data (despite what some would want you to believe) is fairly solid. The differences in IQ amongst races are not, however, fairly solid.

Involuntary minorities have been known to score lower on IQ tests, and individuals who are prejudiced against often suffer the same fate. Atheists fall under both categories and still score higher.

The issue of debate is why there is an IQ difference. Are people of lower intelligence more likely to become religious? Or is it that religion makes people illogical? I would argue the answer is both. Some Christians argue the IQ difference exists because intelligent people are too arrogant to believe in God. Unfortunately, this rebuttal is strong when it comes to a Christian debate. There is actually a part in the Bible that mentions how stupid people are more common in heaven (something about the meek). If I am being unbiased, there is also a slight possibility of test biased. Atheism is more common amongst academics who make such tests, and, unfortunately, libertarianism is also a common trend amongst IQ experts. However, atheism affecting the test would still not account for the high percentage of scientists who are atheist (making that argument flimsy at best).

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor
Some Christians argue the IQ difference exists because intelligent people are too arrogant to believe in God.

They sure do! To trust in one's own powers of reason rather than the "revealed word" of some godfaker is the "height of arrogance".

I've even seen it said, in so many words, on this board...

Well, buddy, there's been people a lot smarter than you who worshiped the Lord...what makes you think you're so damn smart! Why should I take your word for it?

They ignore the historical context entirely, of course. Lots of "smart people" lived in periods in which "denying the Lord" was punishable by execution!

Being "smart", they kept their opinions to themselves. :lol:

On the whole, "arrogance" has a rather nasty reputation; we generally associate it with our "social superiors" and since we detest them we detest what we think of as "their characteristics".

But the truth is, a moderate amount of "arrogance" seems to be inseparable from individual autonomy...what we need to make communism practical.

That is, we need an entire class of people willing to trust their own powers of reason and unwilling to surrender those powers to either religious or secular conmen.

It's quite possible that what we label now as "arrogance" will, in time, become very common indeed.

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[chaval]

sounds to me like secularist propaganda