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Intelligent people = 'less likely to believe in God'


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What's that got to do with the statistic? There's already a thread for people with opinions of God.

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The only people who tell you that you can't do something are those who have already given up on their own dreams so feel the need to discourage yours.

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Just throwing this out there:

 

According to a study i just read about the other day in the boston globe: out of all the states, Massachusetts is the least religious(i.e believe in god, worship a god or higher power) along with several other new england states. While southern states such as Texas and Louisiana top the charts as the most religious. And well, we all know the stereotypes of the south.

 

 

 

The fact that "intelligent" people are less likely to believe in god does not surprise me. The reason 90%(made up statistic) of religious people believe in their religion is because that was what they were raised with. For example, i doubt that most very religious Christians would be Christian today if they were raised say, as a Hindu. So basically they are basing a large part of their life around the fact that they were told it was true from a young age. I think a main trait of an intelligent person (even though they may not be right, who knows.) is to question what other people tell him or her. When they arrive to the fact that the only reason they believe is because that is what they grow up with, they would abandon that faith.

Look its rob!

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While southern states such as Texas and Louisiana top the charts as the most religious. And well, we all know the stereotypes of the south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tell me about it... people in Oklahoma..... *shudder*

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While southern states such as Texas and Louisiana top the charts as the most religious. And well, we all know the stereotypes of the south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, we don't. Texas for one has the best public education system in the Union. And on average southerners score higher on tests such as the SAT and ACT tests.

 

 

 

You can pretty much prove Christianity wrong.

 

 

 

Good luck with that. If it was that simple then Christianity or any other religion would not exist.

 

 

 

What would you call believing in something without a first-hand account then? Putting belief into something without hard evidence is blind faith.

 

 

 

I have faith, it's just not blind. I've done a lot of research into my beliefs. It's not just something I blindly accept, it's something I believe. And I have firsthand accounts from people who were there. Whoo.

 

 

 

Barihawk - Tomatoe, tomato... Does it really matter?

 

 

 

Why'd you direct this at me, Goddess? I show no disrespect to those who have beliefs. I only show it to those who try to push theirs on others.

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My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won. -Sir Arthur Wellesley

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The way I see how this would work is that there are two thresholds of curiosity/intelligence. Inbetween, you investigate theism and science enough to come to the conclusion that theism is illogical and science is the better answer. Below the thresholds, you don't bother investigating and questioning what others tell you. Above the thresholds, you have delved far enough into understanding the workings of the universe that you realize theism is actually the most practical and better answer. Of course, what you think is going to be affected by your interests and possibly surroundings.

 

 

 

The average curiosity/intelligence (What is intelligence anyways?) of a human being is also rising, and is now moving inbetween these thresholds. Of course the general consensus will slowly move towards science. Please note that everything I say in this post is based on my experience, so this is about as credible as a Wikipedia article.

 

 

 

Another explanation of this is that as scientists hae a better understanding of our universe, they pass that knowledge down, meaning that there is an ever-growing amount of evidence against theism, and for science. Or it could just be our dependence on technology.

 

 

 

I am agnostic, I do not believe any religion to be true, but I also believe that if you try to explain the universe using logic, you only end up confusing yourself and wasting your time. My best explanation of the universe is that time is infinite, matter is finite, so there has always been matter, it was not created in an explosion of nothing. That explosion of "nothing" was actually just some diety, who is not almighty, all-powerful, and omni-potent, bending a few laws of physics to make a blackhole that consisted of all matter that exists. everything down to electrons exist, but quarks or anything smaller do not. This is because it has not been proven to me that quarks exist. Only atoms/electrons. Most other laws of physics apply. There are no vibrating strings of energy that make up everything, there are no gravitons, everything exists just because it does and someone or something, or maybe even everything, said it does. It's like a giant game made by billions of different kids working together. They make rule after rule after rule until sometimes they forgot a few. The universe exists. I don't know why, I don't care how, and I'm going to leave it that way.

There's no such thing as regret. A regret means you are unhappy with the person you are now,

and if you're unhappy with the person you are, you change yourself. That

regret will no longer be a regret, because it will help to form the new,

better you. So really, a regret isn't a regret.

It's experience.

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Just throwing this out there:

 

According to a study i just read about the other day in the boston globe: out of all the states, Massachusetts is the least religious(i.e believe in god, worship a god or higher power) along with several other new england states. While southern states such as Texas and Louisiana top the charts as the most religious. And well, we all know the stereotypes of the south.

 

 

 

The fact that "intelligent" people are less likely to believe in god does not surprise me. The reason 90%(made up statistic) of religious people believe in their religion is because that was what they were raised with. For example, i doubt that most very religious Christians would be Christian today if they were raised say, as a Hindu. So basically they are basing a large part of their life around the fact that they were told it was true from a young age. I think a main trait of an intelligent person (even though they may not be right, who knows.) is to question what other people tell him or her. When they arrive to the fact that the only reason they believe is because that is what they grow up with, they would abandon that faith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bible belt.. oh god. In this thread I would defend religion naturally, In any other thread however. I would attack religion in the bible belt.

 

 

 

too much faith can be a bad thing. Especially if misguided. Sad isnt it?

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Of course, the fact that many intelligent people are atheists says nothing about their arguments/reasons for being atheists. Any attempts to view this study as any kind of argument against religion is a simple logical fallacy. That said, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the hypothesis was proven true.

"Da mihi castitatem et continentam, sed noli modo"

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Just throwing this out there:

 

According to a study i just read about the other day in the boston globe: out of all the states, Massachusetts is the least religious(i.e believe in god, worship a god or higher power) along with several other new england states. While southern states such as Texas and Louisiana top the charts as the most religious. And well, we all know the stereotypes of the south.

 

 

 

The fact that "intelligent" people are less likely to believe in god does not surprise me. The reason 90%(made up statistic) of religious people believe in their religion is because that was what they were raised with. For example, i doubt that most very religious Christians would be Christian today if they were raised say, as a Hindu. So basically they are basing a large part of their life around the fact that they were told it was true from a young age. I think a main trait of an intelligent person (even though they may not be right, who knows.) is to question what other people tell him or her. When they arrive to the fact that the only reason they believe is because that is what they grow up with, they would abandon that faith.

 

 

 

The bible belt.. oh god. In this thread I would defend religion naturally, In any other thread however. I would attack religion in the bible belt.

 

 

 

too much faith can be a bad thing. Especially if misguided. Sad isnt it?

 

 

 

 

 

Err, what's wrong in the Bible Belt? People believe the same things as anywhere in the nation, there's just more conservative worship. And since most of these communities are founded by people active in the church, there are old blue laws that aren't even enforced anymore.

 

 

 

I've been living in the Bible Belt for five years now and I don't see people having "too much faith" with the exception of a few neo-contemporary Baptists who act a little silly in church. Emphasis on "in church" because while in church they may have their hands high in the air singing terrible music (I hate praise and worship, I grew up with hymns), outside of church they are just going back to their daily lives and not caring (with exceptions, of course).

 

 

 

And that's just one church. The Catholics and Methodists and Southern Baptists here are tame and just normal Christians. It's not like we go on Sunday witch hunts or go protest outside of strip clubs or something.

 

 

 

There's an alarming trend in these threads of making blanket statements, and it's coming from both sides of the table. Please stop. Saying that you are more intelligent then someone and then making blanket statements about a large group based solely on their religion is not...very intelligent.

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My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won. -Sir Arthur Wellesley

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Err, what's wrong in the Bible Belt? People believe the same things as anywhere in the nation, there's just more conservative worship. And since most of these communities are founded by people active in the church, there are old blue laws that aren't even enforced anymore.

 

 

 

I do have to say, I know quite a few people who live in the Bible belt who are non-Christian and hate living there because of some of the people who live there. It's mainly the handful of fundies that give them a hard time that annoys the {cabbage} out of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Also, on another note, I live in Massachusetts. When it comes to the religious numbers, it depends on which town/city you live in. My home town had at least 10 Catholic churches. And that's not including other sects of Christianity. Then again, most of the population was Portuguese/Roman Catholic. But that's for another debate.

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Lubbock can be considered the capital of the Bible Belt and I've never heard of people doing that. Aside from handing out pamphlets once a week at the Universities (one church does it, too), there's not like old preachers standing on boxes on streetcorners shouting "YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!"

 

 

 

I don't see how someone who doesn't want to hear about religion can't hear them here. It's a very secular community, with churches as a backbone. Most of the major cities in the Belt are that way, too. As for Hickville, USA in the middle of the random nowhere, you might find attitudes like that. But then again you should expect that in most small towns.

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My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won. -Sir Arthur Wellesley

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Lubbock can be considered the capital of the Bible Belt and I've never heard of people doing that. Aside from handing out pamphlets once a week at the Universities (one church does it, too), there's not like old preachers standing on boxes on streetcorners shouting "YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!"

 

 

 

We have people like that at colleges in the area (NC). Most students just egg them on and laugh. I think there was one guy who had actually memorized the majority of the Bible, which is pretty impressive.

 

 

 

Just throwing this out there:

 

According to a study i just read about the other day in the boston globe: out of all the states, Massachusetts is the least religious(i.e believe in god, worship a god or higher power) along with several other new england states. While southern states such as Texas and Louisiana top the charts as the most religious. And well, we all know the stereotypes of the south.

 

 

 

Wouldn't that prove (or make you think) intelligence is seperate from religious ideals?

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The fundies that hand out those pamplet-type things at my college are a riot. It's incredible how so many of them can simply disregard fact.

 

 

 

I'm not saying all religious people are crazy bari, just that the ones around where I'm at (kansas) hand out some ridiculous stuff

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Lenticular_J - Take 3 steps back, retaliating and acting all defensive will get you nowhere. Take a joke. Tastefully make a joke about atheists if you think it's funny, they'd probably laugh too if they had a sense of humour. You are way over reacting and frankly looking rather silly, be the better person like you said and walk away or at least challenge someones views intelligently. After all you are trying to prove you're just as intelligent not the latter. And yes, you're not the only person, I see many atheists over reacting as well, you just seemed the most upset.

 

I didn't mean to sound overly upset, I simply hate it when people act superior to people for as idiotic reasons as a quote. And that really didn't sound like a joke to me, it's hard to tell over the internet.

 

 

 

And I hate super-crazy Fundamentalists, too. They don't even hand out Bibles, they hnd out hundred-page pamphlets with two or three Biblical quotes in thirty languages. #-o

catch it now so you can like it before it went so mainstream

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The fundies that hand out those pamplet-type things at my college are a riot. It's incredible how so many of them can simply disregard fact.

 

 

 

I'm not saying all religious people are crazy bari, just that the ones around where I'm at (kansas) hand out some ridiculous stuff

 

 

 

Really? The ones here just hand out little bulletins for the Church that are essentially invitations.

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My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won. -Sir Arthur Wellesley

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The fundies that hand out those pamplet-type things at my college are a riot. It's incredible how so many of them can simply disregard fact.

 

 

 

I'm not saying all religious people are crazy bari, just that the ones around where I'm at (kansas) hand out some ridiculous stuff

 

 

 

Really? The ones here just hand out little bulletins for the Church that are essentially invitations.

 

 

 

Well here they hand out those silly pamplets like "what happened to the dinosaurs" and such. My roomate actually picked one up from them, and it's hilarious some people still believe stuff like that. It was about as fundie as you could get, earth being 6000 years old and all that jazz.

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The fundies that hand out those pamplet-type things at my college are a riot. It's incredible how so many of them can simply disregard fact.

 

 

 

I'm not saying all religious people are crazy bari, just that the ones around where I'm at (kansas) hand out some ridiculous stuff

 

 

 

Really? The ones here just hand out little bulletins for the Church that are essentially invitations.

 

My church does the same thing.

 

 

 

I don't think I have ever been given a crazy handout. There aren't any crazy religious people I know. Most of them are normal, I guess.

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This is ridiculous. To even say it is to pove the opposite. Your just trying to build up your ego.

 

 

 

Just throwing this out there:

 

According to a study i just read about the other day in the boston globe: out of all the states, Massachusetts is the least religious(i.e believe in god, worship a god or higher power) along with several other new england states. While southern states such as Texas and Louisiana top the charts as the most religious. And well, we all know the stereotypes of the south.

 

 

 

 

We all know the stereotypes of Massachusetts too.

 

 

 

that reminds of the "people with a higher IQ have a smaller penis" article

 

 

 

Ah nothing like some good old fashion divine retribution.

My carbon footprint is bigger than yours...and you know what they say about big feet.

 

These are the times that try mens souls...
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We all know the stereotypes of Massachusetts too.

 

 

 

 

Please enlighten me on Massachusetts stereotypes.

 

 

 

While southern states such as Texas and Louisiana top the charts as the most religious. And well, we all know the stereotypes of the south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, we don't. Texas for one has the best public education system in the Union. And on average southerners score higher on tests such as the SAT and ACT tests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uhm, the southern states are the most religious, what does that have to do with SAT or ACT scores? And I highly doubt Texas has the best public education, though when you live in Oklahoma you get a skewed view of any thing Texan.

 

 

 

(for example we had a new student that came from Texas she said that AP classes and concurrent enrollment were not offered at her high school[though of course thats just one high school])

 

 

 

I live in the buckle of the bible belt, and there are quite a few crazies here. I really hate it when they come to your door and ask to come to there church... -.-

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We all know the stereotypes of Massachusetts too.

 

 

 

 

Please enlighten me on Massachusetts stereotypes.

 

 

 

I second this. I would like to know what these supposed "stereotypes" are.

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Probably just one step above San Francisco just colder.

 

 

 

So, by your generalization, that applies to the whole state of California as well, considering you only used one city as an example.

 

 

 

Open mouth, insert foot?

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Well no because the people of California voted for banning gay marriage while SF didn't.(Wonder why?)

My carbon footprint is bigger than yours...and you know what they say about big feet.

 

These are the times that try mens souls...
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Well no because the people of California voted for banning gay marriage while SF didn't.(Wonder why?)

 

And you also realize the gay marriage law in Massachusetts was overturned right? Too many people were against it.

 

 

 

Read about what you say before you say. Maybe you'd come off as more intelligent.

 

 

 

I've also seen you in other threads. You like to argue. You enjoy ticking people off. To me, and I may be making an assumtion here, you seem like a bigot with an argumentative streak that you can't seem to quell. Does this sound about right?

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