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Intelligent people = 'less likely to believe in God'


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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.

 

 

 

:roll:

 

 

 

 

 

I doubt how intelligent someone is really affect their beliefs. I know a lot of intelligent people who are religious. I believe some people get curious and begin to question religion. As humans, we are naturally curious. Most people won't question and continue to follow a religion, but those who take more initiative do.

 

 

 

It's all about risks. Some people might not want to stray away because if there turns out to be a God, they won't be accepted. Now, it's all mindset too. If you truly believe there isn't a God, then you won't think twice about your decision and wonder "What happens if there is a God? I will be stuck here and not get to go to Heaven."

 

 

 

As a self-proclaimed Atheist, I chose to stray away from my raising of a Christian for my own reasons. Over the years I have developed the sense to respect people's beliefs and hoped to receive respect as well. Now, I've found only a select few will accept it; nonetheless, I chose to go on and continue my beliefs and not have them interfere with relationships or any social matter.

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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.

 

have I? explain

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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.

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

 

have I? explain

 

a) The people you know who are discounting the theory of evolution, given the overwhelming empirical evidence to support it, simply because of a few flaws (which you have not described), appear to not be thinking rationally on the subject.

 

B) You claim to know 'lots of stupid atheists, but no stupid Christians': either you know very few Christians, or you know very few non-theists. Or, the third option, which is a combination of the first and the corollary that you are purposefully ignoring the intelligent non-theists you know to support your grossly flawed hypothesis. In either case, the people you know are hardly a representative sample.

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We're turning pretty post modernism if you look around you the world is mainly focussed on "who says what", "question what such a such said", "this person says this so it must be true" etc rather than in religious views. This is a pretty scientific world media/television/radio wise predominately. Especially looking generation wise, this generation was taught to question everything, to want cold, hard, facts and to provide evidence to support claims. Looking at things in this prospective, it's no wonder they've come to the conclusion that they have. However, as Zon pointed out IQ isn't a definite, it is quite multifaceted.

 

 

 

Many of the greatest names in history rolled spirituality with science, so what are the correlations for this? ;)

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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.

 

Objection, your honour!

 

 

 

I would rather say that Atheism comes when someone is tired of seeking the answer. Atheism is an answer. "There was nothing, and then there was a bang and then it was everything." Denying all kind of force behind the Universe comes very silly to me.

 

 

 

However, I think most religions are just as silly. Many religions base upon the fact that you must believe a certain thing, but you cannot chose what to believe.

 

 

 

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Agnosticism is the way to go, and I shall sentence anyone who doesn't follow what I believe to an eternity of cold fire! :evil:

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Many of the greatest names in history rolled spirituality with science, so what are the correlations for this? ;)

 

The Inquisition. =p

 

 

 

Also, those people are the outliers that I mentioned earlier. They were hardly representative of the greater mass of religious people of their time.

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Not only that but they are some of my more intelligent friends, I know lots of stupid athiests, but no stupid christians.

 

 

 

Hang around the forums more often, you'll meet plenty of intelligent atheists and such with an open mind. People tend not to find things they're not looking for. Youtube "dancing bear" as a perfect example.

 

 

 

Another example, it wasn't until I was pregnant I noticed an increase to my awareness towards baby adverts and mothers pushing strollers in the shopping mall. In fact there wasn't an increase, I was actually looking this time for something in specific.

 

 

 

If you'd like sources I'll happily provide some for you or maybe you could just talk to your intelligent psychology graduate friend there, we probably did the same degree anyway.

 

 

 

It's not that you don't know plenty of intelligent atheists, it's the fact that you choose not to look out for them more often than intelligent Christians.

 

 

 

 

me and most of my christian friends

 

 

 

Hehehe... I couldn't help but quote it.

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

An example of the problem with "IQ"

 

 

 

Lack of a theoretical basis - As one psychologist (Tuddenham, 1962, p. 515) has concluded: "Social needs have seemed to lead, and theoretical developments to follow, the changes in mental tests over the last half century"

 

 

 

Most IQ tests only partially address memory, reasoning, problem solving and decision making - the domains studied by cognitive scientists.

 

 

 

IQ testing has drawn criticism and controversy for many years, largely for two reasons: the lack of a theoretical basis and the potential for cultural bias.

 

 

 

As you can see by the year of my reference, this obviously isn't new news either. The controversy has been around for a while now.

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Makes sense I suppose. The more you know and the less places god has to hide in gaps of knowledge, the less likely you are to believe he answers the questions of the universe.

 

 

 

I also think there could be something to being a critical person and seeing more flaws in arguments which leave god as an attractive explanation for something.

 

 

 

The net result of both is less likelyhood to be a believer.

 

 

 

Having said that, many smart people can be believers. I'm also noticing a propensity of some smart people, e.g. Einstein, to use terms like "god" to explain the wonder, beauty and mathematical harmony of the universe. He called it "Spinoza's God," stemming from the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza

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Ask most scientists and they'll relate it to religion.

 

 

 

Did you ask most scientists? What did they tell you lol

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I would rather say that Atheism comes when someone is tired of seeking the answer. Atheism is an answer. "There was nothing, and then there was a bang and then it was everything." Denying all kind of force behind the Universe comes very silly to me.

 

 

 

Since people aren't brought up with atheism, I don't agree. To get to atheism, most people have to go against their upbringing. That requires questioning and seeking of answers.

 

 

 

Atheists would say that creating a divine force behind the universe that magically explains everything is also very silly, and is just settling on a simple fairytale answer because people are just tired of seeking the truth. "There was always this divine force, it was never created, it just existed forever. It can't be detected, but it listens to and cares about our prayers and rituals. Despite millions of years of human history and billions of years of animal history, it only told us about itself 2,000 years ago."

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The amount of raw disfact and stereotyping in this thread seems to suggest the professor's results otherwise.

 

 

 

It's one random man making a stupid claim. Religion, race, sex, whatever is NO indicator of intelligence. To claim that it is makes you sound like a bigotist idiot. Period.

 

 

 

And to the statement that religion excludes science, you are mistaken. End of story. Name me ONE mainstream religion in the present day that denies science. You probably can't, because they would be out worshipping trees or something. This very elitist attitude I am getting sick of.

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The amount of raw disfact and stereotyping in this thread seems to suggest the professor's results otherwise.

 

 

 

No offense but that makes you sound like the bigotist idiot. While there are a few naive posts some of the more intelligent posts trying to disprove the theory actually support the theory lol

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The amount of raw disfact and stereotyping in this thread seems to suggest the professor's results otherwise.

 

 

 

No offense but that makes you sound like the bigotist idiot. While there are a few naive posts some of the more intelligent posts trying to disprove the theory actually support the theory lol

 

 

 

There's also a lot of disfact and stereotyping. Praise to the people attempting to be smart. Bain to the ones trying to be dumb.

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I like your new post, it's a little less biased.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2111174/Intelligent-people-'less-likely-to-believe-in-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.

 

 

This coming from the guy who also linked intelligence to race and sex. Yeah, colour me all convinced.

 

There are so many variables into this equation, that an intelligent (!) person wouldn't waste his time on doing this kind of researches.

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You could hardly call it research with what he is drawing from. He is noted by the scientific community for ignoring the scientific method in several of his statements. I personally just think he's an attention hound.

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Since people aren't brought up with atheism, I don't agree. To get to atheism, most people have to go against their upbringing. That requires questioning and seeking of answers.

 

 

 

Not true in the least. I am just one example of someone not brought up with an actual belief system. At 9 years old, I was told that I can find my own path, rather than be forced into a path set by either parent. I found my own path, through trial and error. I studied, tried different things, and realized that I didn't need a preset path.

 

 

 

I guess the point I'm making is don't make assumptions. I've known a good number of people who were raised to find their own way, so don't generalize and say all kids are forced into a religion.

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Very true - My mum is Catholic, my dad was atheist. They told me to believe in whatever makes me happy. I'm now happy smack bang in the middle of spirituality (non religious) and science. Through observations of the toll it's taken on my life, my dad has actually adopted many of the principles and found they worked for him too. Call me shallow but I don't actually care if it's true or not, I only care that it makes my life easier to live.

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I don't think his theory proves anything. There's plenty of intelligent and stupid Theists, as much as there are plenty of intelligent and stupid Athists. If believing in God and being intelligent puts you in the less populated set, so what? It doesn't make you any less intelligent, neither does it challenge your beliefs.

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I personally used to question my religion, but science actually pushed me back to it. And I believe I am fairly intelligent.

 

 

 

However, that theory is pretty stupid; completely biased from an atheist's side of the argument. At least, it seemed so in my eyes.

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Since people aren't brought up with atheism, I don't agree. To get to atheism, most people have to go against their upbringing. That requires questioning and seeking of answers.

 

 

 

Not true in the least. I am just one example of someone not brought up with an actual belief system. At 9 years old, I was told that I can find my own path, rather than be forced into a path set by either parent. I found my own path, through trial and error. I studied, tried different things, and realized that I didn't need a preset path.

 

 

 

I guess the point I'm making is don't make assumptions. I've known a good number of people who were raised to find their own way, so don't generalize and say all kids are forced into a religion.

 

 

 

I think the point though is that most people, at least that I have known, were brought up believing in whatever Religion the parents followed. Of course this can't be applied to everyone, but I'd say it's a fair statement to make.

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Science is the pursuit of knowledge and religion rejects science.

 

 

 

 

 

witch is why I'd grow crazy if i was brought up in religion, i do not insult people for religion but why reject everything that is scientifically proven

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