Why are atheists so much smarter than true believers on the whole?

Answer 1

Most believers don't bother to research things and just take what the church and bible tell them as fact.

Do you know how I know this? Because if they did, they'd be Atheist.

Answer 2

I'm an atheist (with respect to the God of the Old Testament, an agnostic otherwise) and I have to say that this question is pretty ambiguous.

If you plotted the probability distributions I think you would see that the mode (the peak of the curve) for atheists would be higher than the peak for theists. But the difference might be only 5 IQ points. And if you looked at the tails on the high-IQ side of the two distributions, you would see that there are very high IQ theists and atheists. I do think that you would see fewer atheists on the low-IQ side of the curve in the United States, but that is probably just because there is so much exposure to Christianity in the culture.

The other problem I have with statements like this is that IQ isn't necessarily a good predictor of how functional or successful people are. There has been some effort to define "Emotional Intelligence", and there is some evidence that this is maybe a better indicator of how successful people will be in life.

By the way, I went to college at one of the very best science & technology universities in the U.S. and was exposed to many people that had higher IQs than I do. I saw examples of all of the above in those people with higher IQs -- both very religious people, and people who despite their high IQs weren't very functional (i.e. had low emotional intelligence).

The one advantage that I think atheists have over theists is that we are much less likely to accept an answer purely on authority. We want to understand the reason for the answer. I think all people who base there religious beliefs on the Old Testament risk having their world view be limited by the beliefs of the Bronze Age. I'm willing to accept that it is possible that there is a supernatural creator of the universe, but I personally am convinced that the description of the God of Abraham is a very inaccurate description of the Creator. Why can't Theists use the modern tools of critical thinking to create a more believable picture of the Creator?

Answer 3

Are you serious? Or are you trying to make a point? I sometimes wonder... I don't believe you can put such a fine label on such broad groups of people. There are intelligent people everywhere, dependent on genetics, surroundings, and academic/life exposure, aside from other important factors. You might try revising this to "Why are atheists so much MORE OPEN-MINDED than true believers," which is generally true in the larger sense of the idea. On the other hand, one might say that these "true believers" as you call them have the more open-minded stances, as they believe in people coming back from the dead, something that can see us all the time (no, I don't mean Big Brother), and two completely unrealistic (not saying unreal) worlds where we go after we are departed. Hmmm. Think about it...

Answer 4

I'm an agnostic, and your question has me befuddled. You seem to indicate that atheism is somehow different than true belief. If a group holds a false belief, how exactly are they smarter than "true believers"? If you are an Atheist and understand how that could be, then perhaps you are smarter.

Answer 5

Evidently its a case of you identifying with what they're saying.

Christians have an entirely new awareness due to the Spirit of God within them revealing spiritual things, which you evidently don't comprehend because you're not born from above.

It is for this reason that you are confused when you read what Christians say, but understand clearly what atheists are saying.

That makes them seem smarter, but it's not a question of intelligence, it's a question of an awareness of a body of knowledge that you have no way of understanding.

If you were to hear a very intelligent physicist presenting his material using terms specific to his area of expertise, you wouldn't understand half of what he was saying. If he wasn't dressed any better than anyone else, and you didn't know he was an educated man, you might think he didn't make much sense at all and write him off as unintelligent. (Compared to your atheists)

This situation is parallel.

Answer 6

There are about 40 studies, conducted over the past 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.

We're not entitled to conclude causality from these data, but there are three possibilities:

1.Considering religion important lowers measured IQ (unlikely, since IQ is substantially genetic whereas belief is not).

2.The causality is via other factors not considered, such as socio-economic conditions, cultural history, or physical environment (definitely possible).

3.Having a higher measured IQ lowers your likelihood of considering religion important (most likely).

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... all the good stuff... which led directly to the Dark Ages.

Just to illustrate the point, here's 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 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 essentially 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'... and the 'pay plan' doesn't kick in until after you're dead. What a racket! FORTUNATELY, it only works on those who are gullible enough, and sufficiently lacking in critical thinking skills, to fall for it. UNfortunately, THAT accounts for about 75% of the population of the USA. (There are a lot more people who DON'T know how to think properly than there are people who DO know how to think properly.) That is why there are a lot more religious people in the USA than there are 'Free-thinkers'... including Atheists. Also, Christians are generally too dense to realize that proselytizing (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. If you stop to think about it, you will realize that Christians are very much like the Borg, on Star Trek Next Generation: "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." I would not be surprised to learn that thoughts of Christianity provided the 'creative spark' for the Borg concept.

Interestingly, statistics on supernatural beliefs count the USA on a par with backward, developing Third World nations, rather than among modern, advanced industrial powers.

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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 Lampoon, "Doon" (paraphrase)

http://www.answers.com/topic/religiosity-and-intelligence
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-thinkingchristians.htm

Answer 7

Before I answer that question, I would like to know the sources for your data. Is this based on sound research, or merely your own opinion. How are you defining smarter? Is it based solely on IQ score, if so, it might be appropriate to contact Mensa and find out how many of the Mensa members are true believers. And are we merely talking about one belief, or can they be true believers of something else and still count as true believers. Rember, it is better to be thought of as an idiot and remain silent, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Answer 8

I don't think that is true but I do believe (and I admit that I could be wrong) that non-believers, for the most part, tend to reason things out more than believers - which makes them appear smarter. Of course I could have it bass-ackwards, as, of course, all of us pagan-types tend to do, on occasion, when things aren't going quite right for us, unless they are.

Answer 9

I heard the difference in IQ is 25 points. Let's face it... a child believes in the tooth fairy. Stupid adults believe in astrology. Average people tend to believe in religion. And the intelligent tend not believe in religion. The higher one's intelligence level is, the less likely they are to be fooled.

Answer 10

There are few people smarter than Einstein was, and before he died, he admitted that the order and logic of the Universe could not possibly have developed with no Master Mind in charge.

Atheists only think they are smarter than everyone else.