I don't mean to be rude, but are there any Atheists on this forum who believe...?

Question

someone can be religious and intelligent?

It seems as though a lot of atheists on this forum equate faith with stupidity. I personally believe there a stupid atheists, Christians, Muslims, Pagans, etc, and there are intelligent ones too... Does anyone agree?

I wish I could choose a best answer right now because some of you guys have really awesome answers! Thanks for being honest and giving your real opinion, because most of you are being very kind in how you are stating it (religious people and non-religious people).

Answer 1

Well, since there has been no causitive link with faith and stupidity, I'm gonna have to say yes. Einstein believed in God. His faith even pushed him to ignore some of his own findings. Does this take away the man's 165 IQ? What seems foolish to one, may make sense to another. Besides, being intelligent and being knowledgable are two different things. You can be as dumb as a desk lamp and be incredibly intelligent, yet you can be very well educated and awfully stupid.

Answer 2

I'm an atheist, and I'll try and give you an honest answer.

Most people in the world believe in some sort of deity. This includes stupid people, average people and intelligent people. So there are plenty of intelligent people who believe in God, or at least a god. But I don't. So do this make me more intelligent than you? I hardly think so. But I feel that in this one issue I have seen the light, and can't understand why everybody else doesn't see it.

I feel like the one person in the audience at a magic show that sees through the trick and sees how it is done. Why doesn't everyone else see something so obvious? And even when I explain how the trick is done, they still go on believing it is magic.

Answer 3

I'm atheist, and I agree with you. If you look back over time we have had some major advances made by religious people. During the 11th 12th and 13th century the moslems made major advances in mathematics and medicine. When the dark ages came to an end, many christians also made major advances in science and tecnology, as well as forcing social change. Judaism too has produced many good scientists who have mad major advances, and today, the japanese are making major advances and following the shinto religion too. They are not all. There have been great thinkers from all religions, as well as great thinkers who are atheists.

Unfortunately amongst every group there are those who are just dumb. The only difference is that amongst the religious community they tend to be the fundies, who seem to have an abhorrance of science and learning.

Answer 4

Of course there are people who are religious and intelligent. I personally knows quite a few. Some of them are Christian, some are Buddhist, some are Muslim, some are Taoist, some are Sindoist and the list goes on ...... however one thing in common is they are highly intelligent and would not go around telling people they will go to hell for not believing in their gods or otherwise.

Answer 5

I am an agnostic(which means"I don't really know 'til I die"),and sure I think there are intellegent people of all faiths...but I have a hard time believing a person who wants to convert me shares the same qualities of accepting all the different religions of the world...otherwise,they would respect other religions by not avidly trying to convert them.The thing with most agnostics and atheists,is that we are not trying to make You believe like we believe before we will accept you for who you are..

Feel free to believe as you wish..I have the right to do the same.

Answer 6

The difference is between stupid people & ignorant people. Ignorant people believe that the story of Noah's Arc is the word of God because they don't have enougn knowlege. People who have the knowledge to know that 2 of every living on this planet weighs over 100 million tons and Noah would need an Arc a mile long and still want to believe that this story is the word of any god are just plain stupid and just fooling themselves.

Answer 7

well yes of course I agree, there are stupid aethists around here. christians, muslims and all other religious people can be smart. Like going to the hospital to have their baby delivered. because my mom had a friend who was christian and pregnant. She didn't go to the hospital to get medical checkups to see if the foetus was developing properly. When the baby was born it was mentally ill. she didn't go to the hospital because she didn't believe in medicine. That is a stupid christian. A smart christian would not love his/her enemy even if the bible says so. So my idea of a smart religious person is a person who isn't COMPLETELy glued to the bible or the koran (or quran).

Answer 8

Obviously there are intelligent people among every religion, race, gender, etc. The thing is some people trust an old book or two so much that they stay ignorant to today's reality, and ignorance is the first step into stupidity.

Answer 9

Yes I think you can be very intelligent and be religious BUT religion has a whole has a stifling effect on scientific advancement as a whole. This is unequivocally documented throughout history therefore it leads some to think that religious folks are not that bright.

Answer 10

Well you really have to define "intelligence".

Atheists are knowledgeable about science and whatnot, Religious people are knowledgeable about spirituality and the like.

Atheists don't care about religion and Religious people think science is wrong, so to each other, both are idiots. Just the religious people are quieter about it.