Jump to content

Intelligent people = 'less likely to believe in God'


DaN

Recommended Posts

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -God'.html

 

 

 

Professor Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at Ulster University, said many more members of the "intellectual elite" considered themselves atheists than the national average.

 

 

 

A decline in religious observance over the last century was directly linked to a rise in average intelligence, he claimed.

 

 

 

Thoughts, opinions?

 

 

 

Personally I'm not surprised by this result, people with higher IQ's are more likley to obtain knowledge than someone of lower IQ.

~Dan64Au

Since 27 Aug 2002

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 250
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

In my opinion most people who believe in god know nothing about the religion they follow and just stuck with whatever religion they were brought up to believe in.

 

 

 

However if you become more knowledgeable and look into other things other than just god creating everything you might see them as more rational and logical.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayl4.png

Quit. PM me if you play The Conduit to exchange friend codes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It doesn't surprise me. Smarter people are usually the ones who like to question things. Religion is usually passed down through family. Atheism usually comes when someone tries to seek the answer themselves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It doesn't surprise me. Smarter people are usually the ones who like to question things. Religion is usually passed down through family. Atheism usually comes when someone tries to seek the answer themselves.

 

 

 

Science is the pursuit of knowledge and religion rejects science.

~Dan64Au

Since 27 Aug 2002

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Correlation doesn't imply causation.

 

 

 

Also, IQ isn't a reliable indicator of intelligence.

 

 

 

Then why cant they explain why the big bang happend etc ... Ask most scientists and they'll relate it to religion.

 

But you might want to provide a footnote for that, because that's a pretty tall claim.

 

 

 

Science is the pursuit of knowledge and religion rejects science.

 

Unfair generalisation there. Religions as a whole don't reject science, just those practices and theories which go against their doctrine. Last I checked, the Catholic Church didn't have anything against the laws of motion or thermodynamics.

 

 

 

In before someone uses outlier examples like Newton and Einstein to debunk the OP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It doesn't surprise me. Smarter people are usually the ones who like to question things. Religion is usually passed down through family. Atheism usually comes when someone tries to seek the answer themselves.

 

 

 

Science is the pursuit of knowledge and religion rejects science.

 

Not all religions do. There are lots of Mormon scientists, for example. There is the belief in intelligent design, and the belief that God is essentially the ultimate scientist. Be careful not to over-generalize, especially when discussing a religion. There're quite a few distinctions between most religions. There are intelligent people who believe in God, and intelligent people who don't. Faith and intelligence are not the same thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then why cant they explain why the big bang happend etc ... Ask most scientists and they'll relate it to religion.

 

He said 'intelligent', not omniscient.

 

 

 

No surprise really. As you become more educated you start to question beliefs such as religion more and therefore become more resistant and sceptical to those beliefs. We've known this for centuries, but it's nice to know the Telegraph's caught up with the world. :roll:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

believe it or not, I would have thought it would have been the opposite, I mean the theory of evolution has many flaws, that even some of my friends who have never been christian, and who reject that stuff are starting to doubt evolution, and are completely unsure on so much. Not only that but they are some of my more intelligent friends, I know lots of stupid athiests, but no stupid christians.

Steam | PM me for BBM PIN

 

Nine naked men is a technological achievement. Quote of 2013.

 

PCGamingWiki - Let's fix PC gaming!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

believe it or not, I would have thought it would have been the opposite, I mean the theory of evolution has many flaws, that even some of my friends who have never been christian, and who reject that stuff are starting to doubt evolution, and are completely unsure on so much. Not only that but they are some of my more intelligent friends, I know lots of stupid athiests, but no stupid christians.

 

I know plenty of stupid people on both sides. I think the athiests just come across as more stupid to me because 1. I AM religious, and 2. They're the ones who to me seem so intent on dragging on the beliefs of others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Intelligent people seem to find their own way and try not to be influenced by others opinions. before they make their own opinion they normally look at all of the facts, then they make up there own mind.

 

 

 

So many people are brought up to believe in god that if you ask "do you think that god is real?" there reply would be "yeah, whatever" or something like that.

ruadorksiggy.gif

Thanks SkyFleet for the awsome siggy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

believe it or not, I would have thought it would have been the opposite, I mean the theory of evolution has many flaws, that even some of my friends who have never been christian, and who reject that stuff are starting to doubt evolution, and are completely unsure on so much. Not only that but they are some of my more intelligent friends, I know lots of stupid athiests, but no stupid christians.

 

This doesn't say much about the intelligence of the people you know. Nothing positive, anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please, let go of the IQ thing. Having a high IQ does NOT necessarily make you part of the intellectual elite.

 

 

 

I think it goes both ways. People who thrive on gaining knowledge, usually do delve into the question of religion. They are bound to make an opinion, but it can go either way. I think you'll find both the most convinced atheists and the most convinced 'believers' among that elite, because both groups constructed and researched their stance. There are plenty of deeply religious intellectuals, just look at the impact of catholicism on (higher) education in Europe, both in the past and the present.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know why, but everywhere I go, the majority of religious people are actually women. Even where I grew up, about 80-90% of the churchgoers and deeply religious christians were female. I only saw a few random young-middle aged men, and the rest were old men.

 

 

 

Not saying women are dumb (far from that), but they certainly have a tendency to embrace religious thought. Maybe it gives them hope or something when they feel helpless.

 

 

 

Also in college.. None of my male professors (besides the religion teacher who I believe was an orthodox christian) were religious at all, but they were extremely intelligent. On the other hand, plenty of the female professors were devout worshippers.

 

 

 

Maybe it's socially still sort of 'unaccepted' for a woman to go 'against the grain'?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know why, but everywhere I go, the majority of religious people are actually women. Even where I grew up, about 80-90% of the churchgoers and deeply religious christians were female. I only saw a few random young-middle aged men, and the rest were old men.

 

 

 

This is really strange. Must be something cultural rather than genetical, though, because I experience things differently. The intellectuals I know who are religious, are almost always men. Women seem to be more detached from religion, except the oldest generations (70+). I figure it has a lot to do with the completely outdated opinions of the church on women. For example, I remember going to a funeral a few months ago. The group I went with, consisted of four men and four women. The men all participated in the communion, the women all remained seated. It's just an example, but it did confirm my suspicions. Edit: BTW, this was not peer pressure... we were all a bit amazed at each other, and talked about the reasons why we wish to remain seated afterwards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

This is really strange. Must be something cultural rather than genetical, though, because I experience things differently. The intellectuals I know who are religious, are almost always men. Women seem to be more detached from religion, except the oldest generations (70+). I figure it has a lot to do with the completely outdated opinions of the church on women. For example, I remember going to a funeral a few months ago. The group I went with, consisted of four men and four women. The men all participated in the communion, the women all remained seated. It's just an example, but it did confirm my suspicions.

 

 

 

If I recall correctly, you're from Belgium (or was it Netherlands, shoot me if I'm wrong :lol: ). Probably cultural, because those countries are pretty liberal minded compared to just about any western country.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

believe it or not, I would have thought it would have been the opposite, I mean the theory of evolution has many flaws, that even some of my friends who have never been christian, and who reject that stuff are starting to doubt evolution, and are completely unsure on so much. Not only that but they are some of my more intelligent friends, I know lots of stupid athiests, but no stupid christians.

 

This doesn't say much about the intelligence of the people you know. Nothing positive, anyway.

 

 

 

haha no it doesn't, me and most of my christian friends are in a position to get any job, es we are all bright enough, and I have a friend who has done a uni degree in child psychology and is a teacher who earns a pretty awesome amount

Steam | PM me for BBM PIN

 

Nine naked men is a technological achievement. Quote of 2013.

 

PCGamingWiki - Let's fix PC gaming!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd go as far as to say the more good looking a person is, the less likely they believe in god.

 

 

 

Kidding no really. :mrgreen:

A friend to all is a friend to none.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

haha no it doesn't, me and most of my christian friends are in a position to get any job, es we are all bright enough, and I have a friend who has done a uni degree in child psychology and is a teacher who earns a pretty awesome amount

 

You seem to have missed the point of my post completely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd go as far as to say the more good looking a person is, the less likely they believe in god.

 

 

 

Kidding no really. :mrgreen:

 

 

 

Heh, sounds pretty farfetched, but then again, people ridiculed the idea that the height/appearance of a person directly will correlate to how much on average he will earn during his lifetime... And it was proven true (the taller/more attractive a person is, the more money on average he will earn during his lifespan, talking about an extra 100-300k here). Shorter people as a generalization, earn less money than people over 6'1.

 

 

 

You can't say most religious people are ugly ogres though, most are quite ordinary people, just like a typical atheist, agnostic or any other person.

 

 

 

So I doubt 'that' is the key reason people turn to religion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not exactly smart,but I don't believe in God.Okay,I consider myself smart,but I failed chinese...

 

 

 

So I don't doubt that...statement,but I do have little voices in me telling me it might not be true.

 

 

 

 

 

By the way,I feel that we all have a purpose in life and we die once that is fulfilled,or of old age and you're reborn to try again.What's the term for that?Sure as hell ain't Nihilist though =P

devilgod.jpeg

so i herd u liek devarts?

If you look at me and feel offended by my 666-ism,think.I could be just as offended by your "cross".

[hide=This's why I'm hot]

The Eleventh Commandment:Thou Shalst only say "Amen,brother".

Amen, brother :lol:

Amen, brudda (referring to the 10th commandment)

amen Bruder! (german ftw)

I'm invulnerable to everything, except Lenin and Dragoonson.

That's impossible.

 

I love people.[/hide]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heh, sounds pretty farfetched, but then again, people ridiculed the idea that the height of a person directly will correlate to how much on average he will earn during his lifetime... And it was proven true (the taller a person is, the more money on average he will earn during his lifespan, talking about an extra 100-300k here). Shorter people as a generalization, earn less money than people over 6'1.

 

 

 

You can't say most religious people are ugly ogres though, likely quite ordinary people, just like a typical atheist, agnostic or any other person.

 

Again, correlation != causation.

 

 

 

Taller people generally get that way due to better nutrition, which is more often than not present in first-world countries, whereas those of shorter stature tend to come from poorer countries with much less, if any, access to the same diet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know other people have said it, but it is important to note that IQ is a fairly inaccurate way of representing intelligence.

 

I'm Agnostic myself. Almost all of my friends are Christian, and a fair few of them are very intelligent. However, something I've noticed is that a lot of the smarter ones--those who actually question their beliefs to make sure they're on the right track--tend to not to take the Bible too literally. On the other side, a lot of the Agnostics and Athiests that I've met tend to be absolute idiots, and have no foundation for their beliefs.

Cool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.