Religious fundamentalism?

Question

Is the fervour of religious fundamentalism in direct proportion to the lack of intelligence of the zealot?

Answer 1

I am surprised to see someone put 'reported'. The question is not abusive and in fact debatable. There have in fact been studies on checking the 'religiousness' of members of the Royal Academy of Science, and where I suppose you could say that the level of intelligence is high (they are all Professors, Doctors and such like) the religiousness is low. When similar studies are done on people in low intelligence groups, the proportion of those who were more ready to just believe without question was higher. Therefore although it is rather a sweeping statement, there is a grain of truth in the fact that the lower your intelligence, you are by the very nature of your mental ability to question, likely to be more religious. You will need to factor in cultural backgrounds though as well - i.e Muslims may have rocket scientist, but are still devout. However, would such an educated Muslim be as zealous as to blow themselves up as an average peasant who volunteers for the job?

Answer 2

Not necessarily, because some of the leaders and fundamentalist theologians are no dummies. As far as ordinary fundamentalist church goers, there might be some lack of education because fundamentalism is inherently reactionary, a defense position. That being said, there are forms of fundamentalism that are logically coherent, even if the premises are not acceptable to most people.

R.J. Rushdoony is a good example. Quite a scholar, but off the charts on conservativism.

Answer 3

It depends on what you mean by religious fundamentalism. I suspect that you mean the ability to take verses of scriputre out of context and use them for your own agenda. Liberals can be just as zealous - as can athiests.
So i dont think there is a correlation between intelligence and zeal and religious fundamentalism,

Answer 4

It is the practice of going back to the basics or fundamentals of a religions, such as Christians basing their faith on the Bible, or Muslims with the Qur'an, etc. In many faiths, this leads to rather violent actions when the do follow the teachings. This gives the word a rather negative connotation. In Christianity, it just makes us annoying and intractable to nonbelievers.

Answer 5

Is the ability to generalize, in direct proportion to the lack of intelligence of the one making the statement.

love and blessings Don

Answer 6

Reported

Answer 7

Well, as the fundamental of Christianity is love, someone who zealously pursues this would show something worth more than intelligence. Compassion.

Answer 8

No. Belief has nothing to do with intellegence. Belief is something held in a more protected and defended place than the mind, and to break out of a belief system on needs more than mere intellegence, they need a reasoned argument that lives within the system itself.

Answer 9

No, it is in direct relation to a person's environment, role models, and personal emotional needs.
Like attention, respect by peers, things we all need as human beings. To attack them as being stupid, is to become more of an enemy to them than they already think you are. Which only causes a deeper grip onto the irrational.

Answer 10

Usually. Although not necessarily all the time. I think a lot also has to do with that persons "need for hyper emotionalism" which might be related to intelligence as well, but not strictly.