Intelligent people less likely to believe in God

Intelligent people less likely to believe in God

www.telegraph.co.uk

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.

But the conclusions - in a paper for the academic journal Intelligence - have been branded "simplistic" by critics.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well duh!

www.telegraph.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Quazga


I agree, great post here Quazga.

My children were raised outside any religion. My son is friends with a girl who is very Religious and invited him to a gala. His only words were "they're weird".


[edit on 12/6/08 by Rhain]

And there you have it folks, scientific evidence. But then again, science isn't real, gravity is just God holding us down, and Jesus created the world in 6 days.

I love it!!!

I wouldn't say it was intelligence per say..there are alot of smart religious folks out there,it seems there is some part of their personality/mindset when it comes to religion,that completely negates any common sense and they believe because they have *faith* and we all know faith is good...

reply to post by Quazga


The intellectual elite often define themselves as intelligent because they don't believe in God. It's like a badge of honor to them.

[taken from source]
But Professor Gordon Lynch, director of the Centre for Religion and Contemporary Society at Birkbeck College, London, said it failed to take account of a complex range of social, economic and historical factors.

"Linking religious belief and intelligence in this way could reflect a dangerous trend, developing a simplistic characterisation of religion as primitive, which - while we are trying to deal with very complex issues of religious and cultural pluralism - is perhaps not the most helpful response," he said.

Is the telegraph putting a spin on the story?

I think so - this is nothing more than an example of the 'hot press' taking a story and over-dramatizing it to see what happens.

After all, perhaps they are less likely to believe in God because they spent more time studying and learning about the world than they did attending Church (not that i'm saying that's good or bad).

I don't think it has anything to do with intellect at all.

It's like saying "Apes are less likely to eat bananas in an area where there are only a few banana trees".

Im not religious.
But I still find that statement a bit off.
There are plenty of intelligent people who believe in god.
Belief dosent make a person any less intelligent,than a person who dosent.
I just look at religion as a means of comfort device for some people.
And if believing in god helps them get through this life,than more power to them.

I personally share the views of this man, who was, they say, a fairly smart guy:


A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. (Albert Einstein)

I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. (Albert Einstein, 1954)

I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings. (Albert Einstein)

www.spaceandmotion.com...
*************

A person without a deep sense of love and wonder about Creation is truly an empty shell.

I can understand this argument completely, that overly-religous people tend to have a really closed mind when it comes down to it. Inability to accept that there could be any way that there's some other truth out there.

And they tend to be really unable to comprehend the possibility that not everybody else is so willing to just accept their little bible book stories so easily. It does not make sense to them, what so ever.

Afterall, he who THINKS he knows everything, really doesn't. Probably because he's closed himself off to learning other 'truths'.

EDIT TO ADD: And, afterall, isn't it said that President Bush is a religious man, having said "God wants me to be president" ?


[edit on 12-6-2008 by LostNemesis]

Intellectual people are not Atheists because of their I.Q. but because of the proofs that science puts on reality. Like carbon dating, with which we can gague the age of almost anything. But as many intelligent people may say, "There is a clear difference between faith and fact" Not that having faith is bad but knowing the diffrence is quite important.

And all must remember that "with faith comes hope, and with facts comes knowledge."

I don't know if it's "intelligence", as defining levels of intelligence is extremely subjective. I feel that perhaps people who are "intelligent" may just practice introspection and critical analysis of the world. After thinking about the world and society for a while, one inevitably begins to question the mechanisms of control being put in place, one of the most prominent being religion.

When looking at all religions, there's a general flow of goodwill toward others and bascially striving for peace, however, these ideas are negated by all the obvious "human" insertions of greed, lust, pride, hate, judgement, etc. So, perhaps, instead of saying intelligent people don't believe in God, perhaps intelligent people can't accept the man-made creations which are present day organized religion and their interpreations of God, as in the fear-mongering/punishing God. Just my opinion.

reply to post by LostNemesis


this statement could be argued from any angle.

those of a scientfic mind are in fact closed minded because they are not willing to except that there could be devine creation and anything not in their little science book is false.

so nanny nanny boo boo!!!!!

I also have to argue the point of intelligence,
It is subjective afterall.
For example,
1.A man is smart enough to create a nuclear weapon,but is he stupid for creating such a thing?

2.If you take a "smart" person who lives in NY and you drop him in the Amozon jungle,if he dosent survive,is he then suddenly of average intelligence?

reply to post by jsobecky


Albert Einstien actually ran himself ragged trying to prove the fact that there was a god, but it so happens that he was never able to make that proof. To the contrary, he many times over showed that the original idea of a creator was propostorous. And therefor we see that he saw a difference in faith and fact even though he wished to deny it. To believe and to blindly believe are very different. "knowledge is power and hope is the fuel"

Originally posted by Black_Fox
Im not religious.
But I still find that statement a bit off.
There are plenty of intelligent people who believe in god.
Belief dosent make a person any less intelligent,than a person who dosent.
I just look at religion as a means of comfort device for some people.
And if believing in god helps them get through this life,than more power to them.

Yes but are you *intelligent*? Given that the headline was "Less Likely" I would say no. At least not in the reading comprehension category.

It is ridiculous to say that because you are an atheist, you are more intelligent. There are plenty of kids who choose be an atheist to rebel against the norm. and of course we see that the claim is made by an atheist. Religion is something that cannot be pinned down to something like intelligence. If that were true we would see all religions in undereducated areas of the world. Todays science elite reject religion, but i feel they try to make people who do practice religion stupid.

Originally posted by Black_Fox
I also have to argue the point of intelligence,
It is subjective afterall.
For example,
1.A man is smart enough to create a nuclear weapon,but is he stupid for creating such a thing?

2.If you take a "smart" person who lives in NY and you drop him in the Amozon jungle,if he dosent survive,is he then suddenly of average intelligence?

Intelligence has nothing to do with good results. Intelligence does not equal Smarts.

Intelligence is about "potential". Obviously the information that the New Yorker has will be more than likely useless in the Amazon (unless he runs into New Yorkers there), however, how long did it take the New Yorker to become "Smart" about New York? Intelligence really measures how long it takes someone to become smart about something different.

reply to post by acewilliams


Then again, perhaps he saw something with his brilliant mind and the rest of us will never truly understand it, because we lack the intellectual genius.

His problem lied in the fact that he was speaking to people who could only think of one God - that of the christian - when he spoke, they didn't stop to take his point of view from a philosophical standard.

And as such, he was doomed to fail before he ever begun.

It's most likely that he 'ran himself ragged' trying to find a way around this problem while sticking to his premise.

Professor Lynn, who has provoked controversy in the past with research linking intelligence to race and sex, said university academics were less likely to believe in God than almost anyone else.

The grain of salt.


Sorry people, this sounds like wishful thinking.

True faith may be amongst the highest expression of intelligence, after love of course.

No apologies, you don't have to agree, it comes from my gut.

[edit on 12-6-2008 by Maxmars]