Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

i could have told you that without an article to support it

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

correlation does not equal causation

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Specific correlation definitely makes a strong circumstantial case.

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

I'm just putting a thorn in your ass buddy. Plus, it's not really talking about all religious people but more so followers of monotheistic Abrahamic traditions. Verbal IQ is also a completely different story...

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Coincidence is a bitch.

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

I'm so glad people are actually doing tests like this... it doesn't imply causation, that's true, but I know that if I was religious, I'd be more likely to stop and take a look at things after hearing about something like this.

Also: something else on that page: http://www.halfsigma.com/2007/10/nobel-prize-win.html

Please don't ban me for posting that rofl

ps what the **** is this site rofl

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Interesting study. I ran some numbers using the same study and found that out of all the people in the so-called "most intelligent" bracket (WORDSUM(9-10)), 95% are white.

From a logical standpoint, if the argument supplied by the link is valid, then it is also a valid conclusion that white people are more intelligent than any other race. But, as others (like Spec) have said, correlation does not equal causation. If you want to make an argument like this, you need to provide a lot more causal data, including explanations for the existence of large numbers of intelligent religious people.

Also, I'm moving this to CT because I'm guessing you wanted an intelligent discussion about it, and it doesn't seem like the Bin is the place for it.

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Gee... Thanks. Now I'm dissatisfied with the caliber of my post and I simply don't have it in me to put a CT level of effort into an additional post so I'll just use this one bitching about how you moved it.

ps "From a logical standpoint, if the argument supplied by the link is valid, then it is also a valid conclusion that white people are more intelligent than any other race." Did you read the link I posted? You might be interested to read what it has to say. And honestly, I would say that any good sample of "intelligent people" should be made up with more white people than black people. Think about the numbers... 95% might be a little high, but if they're only testing among Jewish/Christian believers, it should be mostly White, with some Hispanic and Black, with a little pinch of Asian thrown in for good measure.

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Truthfully it was just supposed to be a jab at you but if you want to discuss it seriously here goes.

Now this is my hypothesis, I am going to see if I can back it up later but here goes. The reason why most intelligent people are white is not because whites are smarter but that due to certain circumstances (White people are traditionally more wealthy, thus going to college is easier. Inner city schools that serve low income black communities are often underfunded and the teachers are not qualified.)

As for religious people not being as smart I wouldn't say religion makes you dumb, I would say that people who are raised to use God to explain everything have less of an interest in learning how exactly the world works. If you can use faith to explain everything you have less reason to question the way the universe's mechanisms grind. Also, while there are some intelligent religious people, obviously intelligence is favored in non-religious people as pointed out by that study. I would guess that the intelligent theists were simply indoctrinated as children and are unable or unwilling to shed the superstitions they were raised with.

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Well, I was making an argument by counterpoint: the survey data is quite complex and isn't just testing people who believe in God.

Argument by blog: "Out of people who are intelligent, the majority are atheists/agnostics." If you run other tests on the same data, it would have you believe "Out of people who are intelligent, the majority are white." 95%, according to the data.

Also, I ran some more tests: people who believe in God without a doubt and people who believe in God, but have doubts, are more likely to have sex at least once per week than atheists or agnostics. Go us!

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Very true statment, but alot of famous people such as Isaac Newton were religious and still explained alot about how the world works.

But yeah your statment is pretty much true these days, I believe the reason people think Giudo is an atheist is that he gets upset at this fact in alot of threads.

Were they married? otherwise that shows that people who believe in God without a doubt sim more rofl

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

I can see this because I notice that so many Christians are incredibly ignorant. They (meaning the majority of...) just know what they've been taught from the Bible and simply stick to that and disregard everything else. It really gets me how so many people believe what they've grown up with. They grow up with a religion and don't even bother searching for any other possible answers and yet they feel like their religion is superior. Personally I have been searching a lot and think of myself as Agnostic until I am educated more. So I think the Old Testament is extremely plausible as it accurately portrays and lists events that have been proven to have existed...does this mean I'm leaning more to being Jewish because right now I'm not buying into the New Testament.

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists

Pot to kettle: "You are black."

--Guido

Re: Religious people aren't as smart as Atheists


When do I ever criticize peoples religions because I think my own is correct?