Can an intelligent person be religious?

Question

I am an intelligent person. I think for myself, I question authority when appropriate. I accept that the expertise of scientists who have studied their field surpasses my own on the subject, just as I trust the same with the knowledge gained by those who have studied history, english, math, the arts, law, and medicine is greater than my own. I study and learn what I can about the world.

I am spiritual. I attend church once a week, I have read the Bible, I strive to be the best Christian I can, living by the morals I have garnered for myself with the help of the Holy Spirit, as well as the teachings from the Bible and the Chruch.

How can I exist? I see the argument that those with faith are blind, are unintelligent, uninformed. I see the argument that those who trust science must be turning their back on their faith in God.

How do you explain my existence, as well as the many, many, many intelligent, faithful people in this world?

I should probably clarify that -I- have no problem reconciling those parts of myself. :) What I am after is those who do claim that all religious people are unintelligent sheep, how would they explain the fact that an intelligent person like myself can be so religious?

Answer 1

I was a religious person as well...but the fact that you go to a church and limit yourself to the views of one religion show that you are not expressing intelligence...Study all religions and view points to great extent...search for the origins of your own religion and who came up with the laws and rules in the books you follow...I searched for all thoes things once too and im an no longer Religous.....If you want to talk more then Email [e-mail]

Answer 2

Of course you can be religious and intelligent at the same time. But you must start at questioning the scientists that you are currently trusting. Not all scientists believe in evolution. There is in fact, tons of evidence that evolution was not the means by which the earth and humans came to be. For example, the almost non existent fossil record of human evolution. Personally, I think that after you look into the real evidence it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does not to not. That is why atheism really just needs to be considered another religion of its own.
There are so many people who are believe in Christianity and other faiths. There is also an entire movement in the scientific community led by scientists, not just people of faith. It is called Intelligent design, and there are some brilliant people working in the field, such as Dr. William Dembski.
If you are questioning the validity of the Christian faith you should definitely look into apologetics, or the facts that prove it. Pick up "Evidence for Christianity" by Josh McDowell, or "The Case for a Creator" by Lee Strobel.
I think that real intelligence is when you do not simply let other people tell you what to believe, but when you seriously form your own opinions through thought and research. So, I would definitely urge you that way.

Answer 3

Yes an intelligent person can be religious. You just choose to be intelligent and rational in all aspects of your life except religion which you find some benefit in having. That's fine. I can see the benefits religion can have. They make you feel good, that other people believe and think the same way you do. There is power in concregated thoughts and beliefs. I and many others feel that the money I could be giving to churches to keep them running could be better spent trying to keep my family in good health with a roof over our heads.

I have no need to attend church where they repeat the same phrases week in and week out. Tossing a few different songs in and changing bible verses. Adjusting the sermon so that it says how great God and Jesus are all the time. It gets a little redundant after awhile and I know what they have to say. That's not to say that an intelligent person can't enjoy that sort of thing.

Answer 4

Intelligence and fanaticism are mutually exclusive. Intelligence and religion are most certainly not. The person that says with absolute certainty that God cannot exist is as foolish as the person who says with absolute certainty that evolution is an impossibility; neither has anymore proof than their own feelings and opinions.

In looking at the world, we must all have a jumping off point; true intelligence is realizing that that point should be tweaked and adjusted as we learn more through personal events and/or study. For some people, that jumping off point may very well be one religion or another. As long as you keep an open mind, your intelligence is in no danger. It is in committing too much to a single belief and being unable to adjust a belief to coincide with the facts where the true danger lies.

I would recommend the movie "Inherit the Wind" very highly to you; the 1960 version with Spencer Tracy and Fredric March. It's about a courtroom battle between a Christian who embraces only that "Olde Tyme Religion" and one who embraces Darwin as well.

Answer 5

Of course you can be both so long as you remember one side is based on science and fact, the other based on faith. This is important because far too often some people of faith have used faith and in particular their faith to harm others or to discount science. This distinction must be made because blind faith is dangerous. You must always question it, just as a scientist must also question his findings. Faith itself is unchanging, just the particulars change from time to time.

Consider for instance that at one time, the Bible allowed for the ownership of slaves or the stoning of a person who worked on the Sabbath. The belief in God has not changed but the belief that these precepts were acceptable have. No doubt, in the future, other precepts will also fall to the wayside, because modern man learns and grows. This is the intelligence component of existance, we evolve our thinking based on fact but allow for a spiritual component as well. There is no conflict so long as we remember that our belief is just that, our belief. To foist upon another our faith or to try and force it upon someone else, either through coercion or bigotry only makes it seem as though faith and intelligence cannot co-exist. Put another way, until religious peoples stop dictating or demanding that others follow their rules they will always be seen as fools, and rightly so.

A wise man will always question, it is the fool who is always certain.

Answer 6

I've been in your shoes and it's no fun at all. I get peace by this thought. Say the "science" professors are correct. Say this all began by a particle of gas, an atom, a molecule, whatever. How did that come into existence? The only explanation to the origin of a finite being is an infinite being. Who made the molecule, atom? Don't feel bad for wanting answers. But we will never "know" the entire answer. That is the whole concept of faith. Hope this helps

Answer 7

I don't think there is anything wrong with being both religious and intelligent. However, there are conditions that must be met. Primarily, that what you follow doesn't violate logic and science. If you ever read the biographies of Issac Newton or Albert Einstien, regarded as the major brains of the past centuries, both were men beliving in God.

However, in itsself, the Bible contains many scientific fallicies that I came across when I was examining religions. For brevity I will list just a few:

--Genesis 1 doesn't agree with Genesis 2.
1 says plants were created first then animals and then humans
2 says humans plants then animals

and also we know that plants cannot predate the sun for it wouldn't allow photosynthesis and the development of the plant to occur.

--Genesis 2 also claims that the Earth was made of water and it rests on 4 pillars with a bronze dome and rain issued forth out of a crystal gate. Science tells us otherwise.

--Leviticus 11:6 mentions that hares chew the cud like cows when in actuality they don't. I am a molecular biologist and so when I came across this it was interesting. Hares actually lack the four chambered stomach, large rumen, and regurgitation of food to the mouth to rechew and re-swallow. Inface hares have a simple stomach and a large cecum. The stark contrast is that scientist even classified them according to this difference: hares are NONruminant herbivores, while cows ARE ruminant herbivores. Hare actually take part in coprophagy which is the recycling of feces while cows do not.

If the Bible was the word of God, how is it that God doesn't know his own creation.

--Deut. 14:8 classifies the bats as birds. Bats are scientifically NOT birds. They are considered to be mamals mammals

--Leviticus 11:20-23 describes flying insects such as beetles and grasshoppers and locusts as having four legs when in actuality they have six.

There are many more lengthy and embarassing ones. However, as a scientist myself I found it excruciatingly difficult to follow Christianity especially once I had researched it out.

The religion that I found scientifically sound along with amazing information that was far beyond its time, especially in embryology, was Islam which had the QUran revelaed over 1400 years ago. There is a great site that once helped me out in my quest: http://www.islam-guide.com/

hope this helps.

Answer 8

It takes an intelligent, humble person to be religious.
It takes egotistical stupidity to be atheist and just want an easy way out, an excuse not to recognize a creator.
You exist, and therefor were created. Do you think something as complex as the computer you're typing on came from nothing? All of it's parts happened to be in the right place at the right time and magically it became a computer? Nope - and how much more complex are we than a computer?

Answer 9

When people claim that you must be stupid to believe in that they are strictly being mean and foul.
Many intelligent men and women believe in God and attend Church, there is no conflict.
There have even been those that have made a life of study out of science only to come to the realization that God is real.
I myself am a college graduate and hold two doctorates.
My faith in God is strong and very much an important part of my life.

Answer 10

I believe so. I thing it takes a strong intelligence to accept the fact that humanity does not have all of the answers. Faith is the next logical step to accepting that there are things we can not prove yet have been given the answers to. God's Word through the Holy Bible cannot be proven to be God inspired, but faith helps us see that it is real.