Is there any statistical correlation between religous people and IQ/education/Economic status?

Question

I suspect there is from reading some of the replies here on Yahoo Answers. Some Christians are very intelligent, articulate and generally kind. But there are others on here that just amaze me by the willful ignorance they exhibit. It really gets me to hear some of them debate the Theory of Evolution, especially when the claim to be highly educated in science. Those people really hurt their own cause by making such fools of themselves.

Answer 1

From a previous set of questions on the same topic:

The question below was posted by "immortal beloved." There are citations, etc. In general, there is a negative correlation between IQ & the "Religiosity Index". A more recent study, with a long name that starts "Cross-National Popular Relgiosity ..." (Journal of Religion and Society 2005 - Gregery S. Paul), also directly correlates a higher "religiosity index" with higher rates of homicide, early death, STD infection rates, aabortions & teen pregnancies. (In the U.S., the diffrrences are quite dramatic.) the study was done in 18 developed democracies.


"In the leading journal 'Nature' by Larson and Witham in 1998 a study showed only 7% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S) believed in a personal god. Of the 1,074 members of the Fellows of the Royal Society (U.K) a similar study was done showing that only 3.3% believed. Mensa (the society for individuals with high IQ) which publishes Mensa magazine, in 2002, had an article published by Paul Bell that concluded that of 43 separate studies carried out since 1927 on the relationship between religious belief and one's IQ and/or educational level, all but four found an inverse connection. That is, the higher one's intelligence or education level the less one is likely to be religious or hold 'supernatural beliefs" of any kind.

I do not assume that all believers are stupid. This question merely states certain facts and asks for responses."

Answer 2

I do not think you will find a direct correlation between adherence to a religion and IQ. There may very well be one with education and/or economic status since members of a religious body will often help those in the same body. For example, I as a deacon often will help (financially and otherwise) those in the church who have much less, helping to raise their economic status.

Answer 3

The truth is that even those with a good education and a high IQ can be prone to self-delusion. Sad, but true.

Answer 4

Yeah, the more religious, the lower the IQ.

Moses parted the sea? Yeah, I'll believe that as soon as I see a moneky fly out of my ***.

Answer 5

There's more than enough stupidty on both sides. Let's face it, the dumbest answer on Y!A is hardly a standard.

Answer 6

No