Why are Atheists more intelligent than religious believers?

Question

My own observation and analysis of the various posters on Yahoo Answers clearly reveals that Atheists are without any doubt, far more intelligent, thought provoking, and capable of holding sensible debate compared to their religious counterparts.

My private research studies indicate that religious people tend to be below average intelligence, and also have a tendency to be more violent than non-believers. This also seems to be supported by profiling various YA religious posters.

Science suggests that religion is a mental illness and that religious people act irrationally because they are genetically predisposed to the “religious or spiritual” gene. Statistics indicate that the higher your education, income, and intelligence, the more likely you are not to believe in a god.

In general terms, this summarises as Atheists are intelligent and religious people suffer from madness. I'd appreciate some opinions from both sides. Thank you.

Answer 1

I agree... I get a lot of angry e-mails from people who are religious, and their e-mails are venomous. They seem toxic with anger, and make ridiculous arguments that are void of reason and logic.

I have known some highly intelligent individuals who where not atheists, however none of them were followers of any religion... and could not be considered religious in any sense.

I think religions attract sociopaths because it is a way for them to be in the mist of weak minded people that they can exploit.

Answer 2

I don't think that acting irrationally implies that a person suffers from "madness". We all act irrationally often. If there were only one or two people who held religious beliefs, we'd certainly treat them as mentally ill, but because there are so many of them, not only do we excuse those beliefs, but we understand them without having to refer to mental illness.

Almost everyone believes that things float around in the Space Shuttle because they're so far away that they've escaped the Earth's gravity, right? But that belief is also false, and inconsistent with other things that we know (for example, that the moon orbits the Earth because of the Earth's gravitational pull). That means that large numbers of people hold an irrational belief about the Earth's gravity - do you believe that's because they're "mad"? I think obviously not.

Now, your basic claim here is that atheists are more intelligent than religious believers, and that's probably true in general. It certain seems indisputable when we look at how each group talks about religious belief: the believers simply don't seem to have thought about it very much, and at the same time have some terribly arrogant, ignorant ideas about the nature of the dispute. But the sample of believers who respond to these questions is certainly different from the overall population of believers, and I think that this sample represents those believers least likely to have any idea what they're talking about. While atheists overall are more intelligent than believers overall, the overlap in intelligence between the two populations is probably far bigger than it appears when you look at the arguments here.

Incidentally, I am also a rocket scientist, though it's not my main career. It's a small world, hey?

Oh, and joe (below):
Why would you think that a drug dealer does not believe in god? I'm sure that some don't, but in fact the percentage of atheists in prison is smaller than the percentage of atheists in the general population. Criminals are a little more likely to be religious believers than are people in the general population, which means that something more than 90% of criminals in general are believers. Unless you have specific information to the contrary, there's no reason to think that drug dealers are atheists, and you can bet that the vast majority are not.

Answer 3

My own observation and analysis indicates that an equal amount of people on both sides are ignorant and often stupid. Atheists tend to be far more arrogant (simply read your own post) and theists tend to judge more.

Again, my own private research studies show that both sides are humans, and therefore are equally suspect to violent behavior. Stalin and Mao Zedong have done some wrong too, ya know.

Science does not suggest anything of that sort, especially since "religious people" are the ones who largely developed the scientific method. Sigmund Freud is the one who suggested that, and seeing that Freud had his own share of mental "troubles" during his life (his cocaine addiction didn't help), I would say he was calling the kettle black. Also, those statistics are actually reversing. A growing percentage of men and women believe in God.

I can tell you enjoy playing the smart one, but unless you believe yourself smarter than Plato, Aristotle, Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Galileo Galilei, C.S. Lewis, and many others, you have no right to make these embarrassing generalizations.

Answer 4

Are you trying to put yourself on a pedestal?? I'm an atheist but I completely disagree with what you are advocating that because you are atheist you are more intelligent than anybody else, even a "religious person"! You're not helping our cause out here to spew that kind of hatred and misinformation because at the end of the day what you believe or don't believe doesn't make you any better than anyone else.

Answer 5

I don't know about other religions, but Christians know that there's more to life than our physical life here on earth. Therefore how much wealth and status you can gain while you're here does not matter as much as being saved from eternal death (hell) and having a close, healthy relationship with God and other people.

Sure everybody likes a comfortable living, but our main focus should be in the life to come if we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and serve God in this life. That doesn't mean we're intellectually challenged

(Colossians 3:1) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Personally, I don't think intelligence has anything to do with religion.

Answer 6

I have met several highly intelligent, wealthy people with a sincere belief in God and keeping his commandments. I have also met some rather poor/indigent people, with below-average intelligence who do not believe in God. Therefore, I do not agree that high levels of intelligence and/or wealth are a good predictor of one's belief system.

I do agree, however, that most atheists are probably more intelligent than the average believer. The reason I believe this is as follows:

Very smart people are more likely to rely on their own intelligence. They are problem-solvers, and tend to look at the evidence for answers. They feel less dependent on God to get them through their day-to-day operations, and as a result spend less time in prayer. As they distance themselves from God, they become less and less sensitive to the Spirit. It becomes more difficult to exercise faith, because they are dependent on viewing the proof of all things.

Those who are less intelligent may tend to rely more on the words of other people. They are just as likely to be convinced that there is a God, as they are to be convinced there isn't one. If the less intelligent person is humble enough, he or she will be more likely to rely on feeling the Spirit of God testify of truth, rather than on their own wisdom.

If God is real, he teaches us truth through the witness of the Spirit. Only those people who are humble and can exercise faith will be able to feel the Spirit. Those who are hardened against God will not be able to receive the same spiritual witness. On the other hand, if God is not real, then no such spiritual witness will be possible. Mankind will have to prove there is no God through intellectual power. As of yet, there has been no real proof that God is real or that he isn't.

As far as irrational behavior is concerned, such as religious violence, we must consider that not all religions are true (it is impossible); while some religions may be more "violent" than others, there are still many religions which are very peaceful. We must also consider that not all people are perfect examples of what their religion teaches. Personally, I have been a victim of religious intolerance from religious people and atheists alike. I try not to offend anyone, regardless of what they believe.

I have to admit, that during the course of my life, my belief in God has been challenged from time to time. I have gone through years of education, from which I have earned a Bachelor's degree in the sciences, and also a Doctorate degree. I have an IQ around 150. But I still believe in God. I have also come to the conclusion that no one can prove God exists; rather, a knowledge of God has to come from God himself. This is how God wants it. That also helps to explain why a spiritual witness is much more powerful and convincing than gaining knowledge through logic and reason.

By the way, while I agree that some atheists on this forum do present some very thought-provoking questions, and that they are more sensible than some of the believers I see here, I have also seen several atheistic questions that are easily answered with a thorough knowledge of the Gospel.

Answer 7

Religious people are taught to belief blindly one thing and one thing only and so most, if not all, of them do. Atheists, nonChristians, etc, use freethinking which is not bound by religion and they may have researched the beliefs of many religions so they do know what they're talking about, whereas most religious folks only follow the one religion they are participating in and don't bother to research it because it must be infallible.

Answer 8

Answer me this how many atheists in the world
how many religious believers

Even if I make the large jump in logic and take your facts as TRUTH can yo0u tell me your studies are a sample of ALL or just the ones you have met. As for YA can you really think that THIS is a scientific sample


MAN what are you smoking

Answer 9

Im sure you have no biased presuppositions concerning atheists or "religious people." It could certainly be argued that religious people are in fact more logical thinkers than atheists. To me, youd have to be blind not to see evidence of a Divine Creator. For such a complicated, beutiful world, it would be difficult to imagine something coming from nothing. Boy, it takes faith to be an atheist.

Answer 10

Well, you're obvoiusly one of them, they're easy to spot, its the huge egos. Atheists have the highest opinions of themselves, regardless of the fact that others don't share that view.

Seriously, I've found that atheists are more likely to have been extremely easy to influence when young, so if a professor stated an opinion, they'd buy into it, hook, line and sinker, without doing any real research, because of their hero worship of the particular professor. If they share the same theory, they can pretend to be as smart as their esteemed teacher. So basically, they're really followers, not free thinkers at all.

Oh, and lets not forget, the "hail the big bang from nothingness" atheists have such faith in. Logical and rational? Sure, great intelligence there.