Posted on 08/12/2013 9:06:19 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades.
A team led by Miron Zuckerman of the University of Rochester found “a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity” in 53 out of 63 studies. …
Previous studies have tended to assume that intelligent people simply “know better”, the researchers write—but the reasons may be more complex. For instance, intelligent people are more likely to be married, and more likely to be successful in life—and this may mean they “need” religion less. …
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
In what way?
What would be the “appropriate” response to the continued onslaught of USSR-type propaganda such as this?
I wonder how many Muslims were included in the study.
Funny you say “cold war”. That was between Christians and atheists at its core.
Atheism is immaturity and overweening pride. They may have high IQs, but it’s useless until they grow up and get over themselves.
The wisest bow before GOD.
AN ATHEIST IN THE WOODS
An atheist was walking through the woods.
‘What majestic trees!
‘What powerful rivers!
‘What beautiful animals!
He said to himself.
As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him.
He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him..
He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer.
He tripped & fell on the ground.
He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.
At that instant the Atheist cried out,
‘Oh my God!’
Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky.
‘You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don’t exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.’
‘Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament?
Am I to count you as a believer?
The atheist looked directly into the light, ‘It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian’?
‘Very well,’ said the voice.
The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:
‘Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen.’
Taking a wild guess here.. This is a study done by atheists?..
You are lowering yourself to the level of these pseudo-scientists when defending your precious highly intelligent self. And they have a ready answer for you which is included in their “studies”: there are exceptions. No, dismiss them without becoming defensive, attack their weak points, ask for a race breakdown, for example, ridicule their conclusions.
You wanna be really effective? Attack the sources of their finances.
Two Words:
Isaac
Newton.
yup, that’s a good one.
“Intelligent people may simply be able to provide themselves with the psychological benefits offered by religion - such as “self-regulation and self-enhancement”, because they are more likely to be successful, and have stable lives.”
Arguments like these in the article just don’t hang together to a rational whole. Ironic given the nature of the article.
If anything, it makes me a little more appreciative of being a person with an average IQ. I can believe those with an IQ over 135 are less likely to have faith. I think there are significant social pressures on them. I also think it’s part of the human condition to try to be all things to ourselves (as emotionally self sufficient as possible)and perhaps highly intelligent people feel less able to express needs the rest of us have.
I’ve worked with a person who had an IQ of 175. His brilliance did not extend to his personal life or emotions. He was an abusive sociopath and regretfully admitted one day that he gave his son PTSD by engaging in a harrowing diatribe/rage fit for having lost a matchbook sized object. I can assure you he and his family were not happy and the recipient of satisfied emotional needs. I was made ill by the way he treated his wife - techniques of psychological abuse I’ve never witnessed anywhere else.
Although I am average, in my professional field (science) I have colleagues who are not afraid to ask incredulously, “How can you, a scientist, believe in God?” I imagine the brilliant minds among us encounter that even more than I do.
All the lame conjecture in the article seems sloppy compared with the study simply reporting the tracking of gifted children over time. It seems like a waste of interesting research, better to throw it in the gutter than surround it with half baked biases.
Some interesting statistical stuff here.
Intelligent people are more likely to be highly educated. Highly educated people are more likely to become atheists, to become successful and to get married.
All three. Disentangling causation and correlation is tough.
Let’s not be too quick to dismiss this study or ones like it. Why do I say this? Yes, the lost and anti God crowd will always try to spin things their way. It’s also true that most people tend to do research not to discover truth but to merely confirm their own presuppositions (atheists and believers alike). However, let’s remember what the scriptures state in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29
26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no [c]man may boast before God.
It doesn’t say “not any” but their numbers will be fewer than in the world at large. In the final judgement “smarts” will not matter that much but as several have already stated here - a humble heart and faith in an almighty God will be what really counts. And on that day God will shame those that really were smarter than the average bear but lacked the faith to believe in the message of the cross and Christ and his finished work. So... for those that will not believe, let them have this moment - as that’s all they will get.
The assumption is that those with the higher IQ must be right (there’s no god). Now for the alternate possibility, high IQ atheists are so full of arrogance in their own intellect they reject religion because they think they know better. It’s a good excuse to ignore any moral constraints you’d otherwise have to live by.
You can be a really smart fool, however, you’re still a fool.
What a shock. I’m surprised the study didn’t find that they were “easily led” too, or that they are intolerant zealots, or that they have conniptions if they hear that the local high school is going to have a mixed-sex dance. This is just window dressing on bigotry, pure and simple.
I’d like these scientists to go to Saudi Arabia or Pakistan and explain these results to the people there to see what happens to them.
Really?
Someone who thinks he is god is intelligent?
Not so much
You meant to add a /s tag, right friend?
I believe the set of religious people would include the 1 billion muslims on eath. Adding that cohort to any universe would drag down the average IQ
The study was looking at those with an IQ over 135. ;-)
Atheism is a religion, a very pushy one if I may add.
Google:”Over-education Linked to Poor Mental Health”
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