Are more intelligent people prone to atheism?

Question

Most Nobel prize winners for Science, Biology,Physics and Mathematics are openly atheist or agnostic.

Answer 1

Paraphrased and summarized from The Effect of Intelligence on Religious Faith, Burnham P. Beckwith, _Free Inquiry_, Spring 1986:


1. Thomas Howells, 1927
Study of 461 students showed religiously conversative students "are,
in general, relatively inferior in intellectual ability."

2. Hilding Carlsojn, 1933
Study of 215 students showed that "there is a tendency for the more
intelligent undergraduate to be sympathetic toward ... atheism."

3. Abraham Franzblau, 1934
Confirming Howells and Carlson, tested 354 Jewish children, 10-16.
Negative correlation between religiosity and Terman intelligence test.

4. Thomas Symington, 1935
Tested 400 young people in colleges and church groups. He reported,
"there is a constant positive relation in all the groups between
liberal religious thinking and mental ability...There is also a
constant positive relation between liberal scores and intelligence..."

5. Vernon Jones, 1938
Tested 381 stydents, concluding "a slight tendency for intelligence
and liberal attitudes to go together."

6. A. R. Gilliland, 1940
At variance with all other studies, found "little or no relationship
between intelligence and attitude toward god."

7. Donald Gragg, 1942
Reported an inverse correlation between 100 ACE freshman test scores
and Thurstone "reality of god" scores.

8. Brown and Love, 1951
At U. of Denver, tested 613 male and female students. Mean test scores
of non-believers = 119, believers = 100. Percentile NBs = 80, BBs = 50.
Their findings "strongly corroborate those of Howells."

9. Michael Argyle, 1958
Concluded that "although intelligent children grasp religious concepts
earlier, they are also the first to doubt the truth of religion, and
intelligent students are much less likely to accept orthodox beliefs."

10. Jeffrey Hadden, 1963
Found no correlation between intelligence and grades. This was an
anomalous finding, since GPA corresponds closely with intelligence.
Other factors may have influenced the results at the U. of Wisconsin.

11. Young, Dustin and Holtzman, 1966
Average religiosity decreased as GPA rose.

12. James Trent, 1967
Polled 1400 college seniors. Found little difference, but
high-ability students in his sample group were over-represented.

13. C. Plant and E. Minium, 1967
The more intelligent students were less religious, both before entering
college and after 2 years of college.

14. Robert Wuthnow, 1978
Of 532 students, 37% of christians, 58% of apostates, and 53 percent of
non-religious scored above average on SATs.

15. Hastings and Hoge, 1967, 1974
Polled 200 college students and found no significant correlations.

16. Norman Poythress, 1975
Mean SATs for strongly antireligious (1148), moderately anti-
religious (1119), slightly antireligious (1108), and religious (1022).

17. Wiebe and Fleck, 1980
Studied 158 male and female Canadian university students. The reported
"nonreligious S's tended to be strongly intelligent" and "more
intelligent than religious S's.

Student Body Comparisons-

1. Rose Goldsen, Student belief in a divine god, percentages 1952.
Harvard 30; UCLA 32; Dartmouth 35; Yale 36; Cornell 42; Wayne 43;
Weslyan 43; Michigan 45; Fisk 60; Texas 62; N. Carolina 68.

2. National Review Study, 1970 Students Belief in Spirit or Divine God.
Percentages:
Reed 15; Brandeis 25; Sarah Lawrence 28; Williams 36; Stanford 41;
Boston U. 41; Yale 42; Howard 47; Indiana 57; Davidson 59; S. Carolina 65;
Marquette 77.

3. Caplovitz and Sherrow, 1977
Apostasy rates rose continuously from 5% in "low" ranked schools to 17%
in "high" ranked schools.

Niemi, Ross, and Alexander, 1978
In elite schools, organized religion was judged important by only 26%,
compared with 44% of all students.

Studies of Very-High-IQ groups.

1. Terman, 1959
Studied group with IQ > 140. Of men, 10% held strong religious belief,
of women 18%. 62% of men and 57% if women claimed "little religious
inclination" while 28% men and 23% of women claimed it was "not at all
important."

2. Warren and Heist, 1960
Found no differences among National Merit Scholars. Results may have
been effected by the fact that NM scholars are not selected on the
basis of intelligence or grades alone, but also on "leadership"
and such like.

3. Southern and Plant, 1968
42 male and 30 female members of Mensa. Mensa members were much less
religious in belief than the typical American college alumnis or adult.



1. William S. Ament, 1927
C. C. Little, president U. of Michigan, checked persons listed in _Who's
Who in America_: "Unitarians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists,
Universalists, and Presbyterians are ... far more numerous in _Who's
Who_ than would be expercted on the basis of the population which they
form. Baptists, Methodists, and Catholics are distinctly less numberous."

Ament confirmed Little's conclusion. He noted that Unitarians, the
least religious, were more than 40 times as numerous in _W'sW_ as in the
U.S. population.

2. Lehman and Witty, 1931
Identified 1189 scientists found in both _Who's Who_ (1927) and
_American Men of Science_ (1927). Only 25% in _AM of S_ and 50% of
those listed in _W'sW_ reported their religious denomination despite the
specific requests to do so, "religious denomination (if any)." Well
over 90% of the general population claims religious affiliation. The
figure of 25% suggest far less religiosity among scientists.

Unitarians were 81.4 times as numerous among eminent scientists as
non-Unitarians.

3. Kelley and Fisk, 1951
Found a negative (-.39) correlation between the strength of religious
values and research competence. [How these were measured I have no idea.]

4. Ann Roe, 1953
Interviewed 64 "eminent scientists, nearly all members of the
prestigious National Academy of Sciences or the American Philosophical
Society. She reported that, while nearly all of them had religious
parents and had attended Sunday school, 'now only three of these men are
seriously active in church. A few others attend upon occasion, or even
give some financial support to a church which they do not attend... All
the otheres have long since dismissed religion as any guide to them, and
the church plays no part in their lives...A few are militantly
atheistic, but most are just not interested.'"

5. Francis Bello, 1954
Questionaired or interviewed 107 young (<= 40) nonindustrial scientists
judged by senior colleagues to be outstanding. 87 responded. 45%
claimed to be "agnostic or atheistic" and an additional 22% claimed no
religious affiliation. For 20 most eminent, "the proportion who are now
a-religious is considerably higher than in the entire survey group."

6. Jack Chambers, 1964
Questionaired 740 US psychologists and chemists. He reported, "the
highly creative men [jft- assume no women included] ... significantly
more often show either no preference for a particular religion or little
or no interest in religion." Found that the most eminent psychologists
showed 40% no preference, 16% for the most eminent chemists.

7. Vaughan, Smith, and Sjoberg, 1965

Polled 850 US physicists, zoologists, chemical engineers, and geologists
listed in _American Men of Science_ (1955) on church membership,
and attendance patterns, and belief in afterlife. 642 replies.

38.5% did not believe in afterlife, 31.8% did. Belief in immortality was
less common among major university staff than among those employed by
business, government, or minor universities. The contemporaneous Gallup
poll showed 2/3 of US population believed in afterlife, so scientists
were far less religious than typical adult.

From Beckwith's concluding remarks:

Conclusions
In this essay I ahve reviewed: (1)sixteen studies of the
correlation between individual measures of student intelligence and
religiosity, all but three of which reported an inverse
correlation. (2) five studies reporting that student bodies with high
average IQ and/or SAT scores are much less religious than inferior
student bodies;(3)three studies reporting that geniuses (IQ 150+)
are much less religious than the general public (Average IQ, 100),
and one dubious study,(4)seven studies reporting that highly
successful persons are much less religious in belief than are others;
and (5) eight old and four new Gallup polls revealing that
college alumni (average IQ about 115) are much less religious in
belief than are grade-school pollees.

I have also noted that many studies have shown that students
become less religious as they proceed through college, probably in
part because average IQ rises.

All but four of the forty-three polls I have reviewed 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 is. It
is easy to find fault with the studies I have reviewed, for all
were imperfect. But the fact that all but four of them
supported the general conclusion provides overwhelming evidence
that, among American students and adults, the amount of religious
faith tends to vary inversely and appreciably with intelligence.

Answer 2

LOL you say it like it's a condition--like someone being prone to back problems or something.

Anyhow, I think intelligent people are more inclined to ask difficult questions and think critically about the how and why of our existence. I don't necessarily think such a trait would automatically gear someone towards an atheist or agnostic world view (after all, religions attempt to answer many of the same questions, ultimately, that science does). However, I do think it tends to steer us away from some of the more dogmatic, rigid, fundamentalist, "my way is the only way" sorts of religious systems.

That being said, people are people--intelligent or otherwise--and we can all get wrapped up in our own heads sometimes. I think intelligent people also often use their intelligence to craft complex and convincing arguments for otherwise irrational beliefs and assumptions.

Answer 3

Aren't Nobel Prizes awarded by their professional peers? I could be wrong on this, but I dont see Stephen Hawking on any panels to judge who gets the Nobel Prize for literature. So no, I dont think the amount of awards proves anything except that birds of a feather flock together.

Answer 4

No. I would hope that more intelligent people would see the evidence of more intelligent design in our world and universe and the laws that govern all things in it (like gravity) as occurring by more than chance alone. They would know how statistically and theoretically impossible that would be for everything to work out so perfectly. I would also hope that they could get past the "just because I can't see something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist" part, too. They should be able to handle more abstract ideas.

Answer 5

More educated are. As long as you are not educated in useless area like theology and basket weaving. The end result will have a more intelligent individual so the two do go hand in hand, but I attribute it to education.

There have been quite a few studies done on this and the atheists always edge the religious by a few points in most cases. I will go look it up for you.

Oh never mind. The 'other' kitten already posted the same thing I was going to look for.

Answer 6

Depends on the person. I've seen highly intelligent people who just give up at a certain scientific point and shrug and claim "god" is responsible and "we can't know". Intelligence is good to be able to toss logic, do analytical research without bias and so forth, but not all intelligent people can do it, or maybe they don't WANT to? *shrug*

My mother cops out and falls back on Catholicism based on the "excuse" that she's "too old" to learn anything new and she's very intelligent. Whaddya gonna do? However, my dad... debate with him and you're in for the intellectual ride of your life... HE'S a BLAST! Not saying "Mom isn't" I just always like keeping my mind sharp under heavy debate.

_()_

Answer 7

And most scientists dont win the nobel prize no matter how hard they try.

Whats your point?

Atheists arent smarter than your average bloke. They just have the decency to admit they dont know much about something they dont believe in.

Answer 8

I don't think its intelligence so much as self confidence. It is a known fact that cult leaders seek out the meek in order to control them. Not that I am saying religion is a form of control, but fear of going to hell most certainly is. Most athiests, agnostics and free thinkers have had to release this control in order to seek the thruth. Imagine what it was like for people like DaVinci to go against the masses. You would need self-confidence in order to do that.

Answer 9

Jesus said that the 'world ' is fond of it's own. It also says..
"There exists a way that is upright before a man, but the ways of death are the end of it afterward." (Proverbs 16:25)

1 Corinthians 3:18-20: " Let no one be seducing himself: If anyone among YOU thinks he is wise in this system of things, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written: “He catches the wise in their own cunning.” 20 And again: “Jehovah knows that the reasonings of the wise men are futile.”

So maybe in this system of things people may think that they are wise, and know things, but it is all just that...and really is foolishness in God's eyes. Anything that deviates from the path that God wants us to follow is unwise, and leads to death.

2 Corinthians 4:3 & 4: "If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, 4 among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through."

1 John 2:15-17: " Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; 16 because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. 17 Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever."

I guess it depends upon how you judge intelligence...by the world's standards, or by God's...

Psalms 146: 3 & 4: "Do not put YOUR trust in nobles,
Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.
4 His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground;
In that day his thoughts do perish."

Personally, I prefer to put my trust in God, and his wisdom. That is smart!

Answer 10

I have a doctors degree and my answer is yes. The Bible says that you must be like a little child to come to Christ. The more intelligent you are the more likely your are to second guess God's Word. Why do Christians do stupid and bad things? Because the main difference between them and atheists are that they have faith in God who cannot be seen and proven to exist apart from faith. However, I wonder if you believe in the the theory of evolution? If so, then you have shown more than enough faith to have faith in God.

Answer 11

i think of this is entire B.S. i think of this is a similar tripe generally reported on R&S approximately atheists, purely longer. If all immoral every person is atheists then there are diverse atheists claiming to be Christians, like, maximum of them. i actually all started in this course in direction of atheism because of the fact I observed hypocrisy and immorality in Christianity. Christianity might desire to be seen as a manner of announcing immoral behaviour is wonderful considering the fact that possible repent and be forgiven by ability of their all-useful writer and nevertheless pass as much as heaven. As an atheist i comprehend this is this existence that concerns, no longer purely for me yet for my fellow human beings, animals and earth and that i stay subsequently. I stay a ethical existence considering the fact that's what i opt to do, no longer because of the fact i think of i'm going to get a vivid reward on the top of all of it. That "answer" looks to intend that no Christians are immoral. i think of all of us comprehend this is not authentic.