It appears that a mediocre intellect is conducive to religious belief. You see that here all the time.?

Question

Oh sure, and Hillary Clinton believes like you do?

Answer 1

Science, reason, critical thought have long been regarded (by the religious) as the enemies of religion. Considering that those are the tools of highly intelligent people, it should not come as a shock that intelligence (or lack of it) has some connection to religious belief. In fact, there are about 20 studies, conducted over a period of 80 years, that reveal a statistically significant NEGATIVE correlation between intelligence and religiosity. In plainer language, they found that the more intelligent a person is, the LESS likely he is to be religious.

If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Intelligence tests mainly provide an indication of reasoning ability and problem solving ability... critical thought. These are the very qualities that see through religion, and recognize it for what it is; i.e., religion cannot survive the glaring light of reason and critical thought. This was well understood by important figures in religious history. This is why the early church destroyed all the writings that were in conflict with dogma, such as Greek philosophical, medical and mathematical knowledge... which led directly to the Dark Ages.

Just to illustrate the point, let's see what Martin Luther, the 'father' of protestantism, had to say about it:

"Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason is the Devil's greatest wh*re; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious wh*re; she is a prostitute, the Devil's appointed wh*re; whore eaten by scab and leprosy who ought to be trodden under foot and destroyed, she and her wisdom ... Throw dung in her face to make her ugly. She is and she ought to be drowned in baptism... She would deserve, the wretch, to be banished to the filthiest place in the house, to the closets." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but -- more frequently than not -- struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God." ~ Martin Luther

"There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason... Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason should be destroyed in all Christians." ~ Martin Luther

Christianity is nothing more than a criminal business enterprise... in fact, it is the world's longest running and most successful Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) scam. The product they are selling is 'salvation'. FORTUNATELY, it only works on those who are gullible enough to fall for it. UNFORTUNATELY, that accounts for over 50% of the world's population. (There are a lot more people who DON'T know how to think than there are people who DO know how to think.) That is why there are a lot more religious people in the USA than there are 'tree-thinkers'... including Atheists. Also, Christians are generally too dense to realize that prosletizing (spreading the 'good news') is a key element of the Christian MLM MARKETING PLAN, which was instituted after Christianity lost the political power that had previously allowed them to simply torture and kill anybody who did not comply. Now, they attempt to just pester people to death, through persistent obliviousness and obnoxiousness.

Interestingly, statistics on religious belief count the USA with backward, developing Third World nations, rather than among modern, advanced industrial powers. How does it feel to be a contributor to that backwardness?

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"Selling eternal life is an unbeatable business, with no customers ever asking for their money back after the goods are not delivered." ~ Victor J. Stenger

"Businesses may come and go, but religion will last forever, for in no other endeavor does the consumer blame himself for product failure."  ~ Harvard Lamphoon, "Doon" (paraphrase)

Answer 2

I think there is to much in the world to know and never will there be enough time to 'know it all', although its very easy to think one knows it all and get full of ones self as many do. I think most people with religious belief may in fact not have time, or even care to spend the time to persue truth, and really truth is something we can never have until we give up and accept the little we know as truth.

So while mediocre intellect may be conducive to religious belief, religious belief is not indicative of mediocre intellect.

Answer 3

It's a fact.

Answer 4

I'd have to agree.

Answer 5

You've got that right. ;)