Does religion cause stupidity, or is it the other way around?

Question

So I was screwing around on Wikipedia,and I came across an article that said:
"Several studies have investigated the relationship between intelligence and the degree of religious belief (excluding humanism), with most showing an inverse correlation between intelligence averages and the "importance of religion" to the testee."

and

"All but four of the forty-three polls listed support the conclusion that native intelligence varies inversely with degree of religious faith; i.e., that, other factors being equal, the more intelligent a person is, the less religious he/she is."

Wondering why you think that might be, I'm open to religious and non-religious answers. (Please note, this is an honest question not an insult)

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence

Answer 1

I think it is double negatives

First they pray/prey,, lol on stupid people

Then they are brainwashing them till they are even stupider,,, :-)

I saw a smart guy once in a church, I asked him
what are you doing here?
His answer was, what are you doing here?
Ummm,,,

Answer 2

First let me answer this question with a question and then answer both.
So this would then mean that a person with a 140 or higher IQ who is not religious when they tested would then test lower if he or she becomes in any way religious?
Can you see a problem here?
First of all most of the great minds through out the ages have been religious men and women. So averages may say otherwise (which I really do not believe) but history says another.
Also I have a very high IQ which was tested in high school and which I decided to retest about a year ago. It is slightly higher now. 10 years ago I became a Christian. So what would 'they' make of that? And by high IQ I do mean over 140.
I think any study that wants to equate faith with stupidity is missing the point of seeking which in its truest definition means to be open and therefore accepting and with that comes knowledge in more than just the faith you seek but in the world around you which makes you far more likely to be intelligent.
IN MY HUMBLE OPINION!

Answer 3

Co-occurence is not the same as causality. To assume so is to demonstrate, at least, that you are ignorant of the fundamental nature of statistics.

Intelligence tests are not categorically descriptive of intelligence. There are things that they poorly measure. They cant measure genius at music, or horse-back riding. They only measure performance within a narrow window of cognitive function.

Your study, because its a poll, could have a self-selecting demographic such that intelligent religious people were disinclined or even given a negative incentive for participation.

Consider that many of the greatest thinkers within "modern thought" were religious. Newton was moderate but religious and his calculus, mechanics, and optics are the foundation of physics. Anyone who asserts that he was anything less than a genius isnt in a hard science.
Consider Srinivasa Ramunajan a mathematical genius of this century. He did things in the upper stratosphere of mathematics that are categorically qualifiable as genius quality. He was a devout hindu, and travelled to england only after having a vision that his families "god" came to him and said he should.

These two counter-examples at least disprove any categorical claim that religiousity and stupidity are causitively coupled.

Those are "cake" counter-examples. There are hundreds more. They beg the question: why does it matter to you? Why is it important to assume there is a causal connection between "religiousity" and "idocy"?

The answer cant be a rigorous pursuit of truth, can it? It cant. Maybe you are religious in your own way, and like all religions you are thumping your chest and saying "we are the only true church, all others are false". Its not a new message.

Answer 4

well why do you think that is. i understand the study and seeing myself and others in church i can totally see that. i seem to question everything and inside the church answers are hard to find. but if you actually take your thirst for knowledge outside and look around you can find alot of evidence that in the archeological aspects the bible does describe the correct places and in the correct way. other religious books are that accurate. just an example of a current one ive looked at is that the book of mormon starts stating that they setteled near a river that flowed into the red. the red sea has no rivers that flow into it so right off the bat it doesnt present itself as very accurate at all and theat just geographical stuff.
so for just religiousness (i guess thats how you would put it) it does seem so much easier if you dont question like for all the people that think the fossil record is the end all be all whats in there have you really looked at it can you give me a time line for any one specie no most likely not or esle you would see that the fossil record shows a 90% decrease in specie and logically it should be the otherway around or at least highly specialized animals of which we really dont show that for the most part.

i wish i could say that all these smart people are in the church but since the rennisance many if not all scientists have moved away form the church as a benifactor and were seperate and didnt let religious belief into their work.

Answer 5

No education causes religious choices.
I can see this where people are trying to live under desperate circumstances. This would not make them less intelligent than others. Only that they know what is made available to them.

I have seen very religious people do well in school due to there focus to do well caused by religious fundamentals.

Very intelligent people can also be religious. Just as very religious people can also be very intelligent.

I would venture to say that the results shown in the article are flawed not to mention biased.

"sixteen studies of the correlation between individual measures of student intelligence and religiosity, all but three of which reported an inverse correlation.
five studies reporting that student bodies with high average IQ and/or SAT scores are far less religious than lower-scoring student bodies;
three studies reporting that geniuses (IQ 3+ standard deviations above average) are much less religious than the general public;
seven studies reporting that highly successful persons are much less religious in belief than are others; and
eight old and four new Gallup polls revealing that college alumni (average IQ about one standard deviation above average) are much less religious in belief than are grade-school pollees. "

I am not sure what they mean by "much less religious."

I am very skeptical of the article.

Answer 6

Ever hear of the saying, "Ignorance is bliss"?

I live in a place where there are a great deal of religious people. From the time they are very young, they are indoctrinated into the religion, which de-emphasizes critical thinking and emphasizes just taking things at face value. If you challenge the church's ideas, you are a heretic and you will be shamed for it. So the rule is you shut up and take it at face value. (Now, what kind of God would give you a brain and then not expect you to use it? That's my feeling...but anyway...)

When kids grow up in this kind of environment, they do not develop critical thinking skills. A lack of critical thinking skills produces a lack of reasoning ability. Lack of reasoning ability is reduced intelligence (which is basically the ability to learn by figuring things out (which is critical thinking)).

Granted, these people are not necessarily stupid, but I do believe they have a diminished intelligence level. But, since the constitution guarantees them the right to choose their religion, I support their choice. (That doesn't mean I want to join though. LOL)

Answer 7

I found this to be a very interesting question and wondered about it as well.

What I found seemed to be mixed reviews. Some studies do link lower intelligence as well as lower levels of critical thinking ability to higher levels of religious belief. Other studies show just the opposite! And some studies show no correlation.

I haven't invested the time to track down the Wikipedia cite of 43 polls so I can't say for sure, but I think that the statistics they cite are off somewhat. It is possible that there are indeed more studies that show correlations between high religious belief and lower levels of intelligence, but I suspect the divide is npt quite a wide as the article says, judging from a quick skim of a literature search.

What seems interesting to me, though, is that this direction may be the wrong way to look. As I was reading , I ran across some articles that discuss "spirituality" as itself being one of the forms of intelligence. (We now know that there are many different kinds of intelligence: linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily, emotional, etc.)

Five components of spiritual intelligence are identified: (a) the capacity for transcendence; (b) the ability to enter into heightened spiritual states of consciousness; (c) the ability to invest everyday activities, events, and relationships with a sense of the sacred; (d) the ability to utilize spiritual resources to solve problems in living; and (e) the capacity to engage in virtuous behavior (to show forgiveness, to express gratitude, to be humble, to display compassion).

Interesting!

Answer 8

Well,

By all standards I am of above average intelligence, am successful in business and in my private life and I also have a strong faith.

I think that in this day we are all spoiled and to full of ourselves. Many wrongly think that we created ourselves.

The more education, the more money we have.

The more money and time we have on our hands the easier it is to fall to the MANY temptations in our land.

The more we justify not believing in God, the more fun we can have. That is the big lie.

Many people without faith lose hope and fill the missing part with Drugs, Alcohol, Sex addiction, larceny, hate, ect. Money just makes that easier.

My view anyway.

Peace!

Answer 9

Can those who are of high IQ have more wisdom and knowledge obtained by Solomon, who said the fool said in his heart there is no God. The reason why high IQ people reject to be Godly is because of their reasoning mind; they try to prove existence of God by logic and have no time for faith.Newton was the second greatest man among all men; he was a very religious person. In fact were he careless in his faith in God, he probably never came to discover the greatest three laws ever discovered by man.

Answer 10

Einstein was a religious man. Also, check out college some day and you will see that art and history class chapters are generally divided among religious periods. Last art class I took showed Christian, Pagan and Islamic art. I didn't see the atheist section. You are fighting a losing battle because there is no way that you can gather writings and works from atheist that even come close to comparing to that done by religious people.

Answer 11

"What are the motives/motives of/for starting to be religions?" a faith components a measurable survival earnings to its contributors. form of like how an ant colony reward from communal habit, and the member ants do greater valuable too (on easy). "What intrigues the main looks the motives scientology became created?" LSD. almost have been given one with "Stranger In a wierd Land", yet Heinlein's spouse kiboshed that, if Heinlein himself might have enable the comedian tale run on long sufficient. "Are the applications themselves suggested interior the religion?" not in maximum of words. to nicely known the objective, is to evaluate selections, and then motives of a paintings that's many times attributed to God, yet is that if reality be told penned by ability of guy. "Is enlightenment of the Buddha a reason for faith," Buddha does not say so... "merely as plenty relativity of Einstein is the reason for the present prestige of physics?" Enlightenment is very like revelation, that's genuine. we would be in a various place with out Einstein, for particular. If faith did not disallow homosexuality and abortion, international populations may be a million/10th what they're right this moment. considering that Earth is suffering decrease than greater living, quivering meat than this planet has ever considered in historical past, faith is killing the planet. So faith very plenty shapes the international right this moment. And technological expertise is straining to maintain us all alive...