Is there a connection between being religious and being uneducated?

Question

I noticed that in most Third World countries people are very religious and fanatical. The more advanced is the country and the mor educated its citizens are, the less likely they are to be religious. Is there a connection between the level of education and religiocity? To put the question bluntly, is being stupid a necessary condition for being religious?

Answer 1

Yeah you got it,they are all hillbillies in America so it makes sense to me.

Answer 2

If you think Third World countries are the only makers of fanatics, you haven't been outside your house much. And no, there isn't a connection between being religious and being uneducated. Many people who are educated are religious. And some people who have been educated are still stupid, religiously. But there is a profound connection between educated people prescribing religious fanaticism to both educated and uneducated people who are gullible to believe the hype and the problems we face today between the religious right or other fanatical groups and free-thinking individuals. Bluntly, being stupid is not a necessary condition for being religious. It's just unfortunate that so many people get stupid being religious.

Answer 3

If that were so, then most of the greatest minds of history would not be religious people. But I think it's pretty easy to demonstrate that actually the converse is true - almost all of the most brilliant and educated people are and were firm believers in gods of one kind or another.

It strains credulity, however, to make too much of it either way. Yes, many countries with greater education standards seem to have greater proportions of people who self-identify as atheists on population surveys. But this and the former datum can mean all kinds of different things... trying to pull out a common thread is much more likely to result in a snarl than a truth.

Answer 4

There's a scientific reason for the religious belief system. Man's deepest emotions reside in the limbic system of our brains, here lies our deepest emotions, our "fight or flight" responses, anger, hate, and yes, the 'religious experience."

The cerebral cortex is a more recent development, here lies our rational and logical part of our brains. It is here that atheists have found their basis in reality.

Consider the Jesus freaks, evangelicals, the uneducated people and other deeply religious folks, all have reverted to that primitive limbic systems of our brains, the place where our deepest emotions reside. The 'born-again' Christian phenomena has a scientific basis. When people are in deep despair, near death, nearly starved, or other highly emotional states, the 'religious experience' is triggered. Hormones, dopamine receptors and other chemical reactions take place...all good for the body. They help to fight diseases, etc. It was a survival mechanism our bodies have devloped since the days of our primitive ancestors.

Those that know the truth however, ie Objective Reality, are not allowing themselves the body's defensive mechanism that has evolved over time. The closest they (we) can come is to believe in the 'power of positive thinking' which is the closest to religion (use of the limbic system of our brains) that we atheists can get.

I've chosen Objective Reality, even knowing that a delusional worldview could be beneficial to my health and body....go figure.

Answer 5

I'd be interested to see if you have any source for this, other than your opinion.

I found a list of studies that explored this question:
http://www.cs.umass.edu/~danilche/texts/intelligence.txt

One study that found a correlation between intelligence and religion 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."

However, another study found "little or no relationship
between intelligence and attitude toward god."

So I guess the answer is, who knows? I know some really smart Christians, and some very stupid atheists.

Answer 6

I guess the uneducated haven't been indoctrinated to the point where they lose their common sense yet!

They look around them and observe that unless someone builds a house, a fence, cleans out the pigsty, it wont get done. Thus when they see the wonderful construction of nature and their own bodies they automatically believe in a God.

The educated ones all have been shown that if they want to get rich, they have to incur the favor of their professors and the ones with their noses in the sky, who teach that all these wonderful things that scientist try to mimic by studying biomimetics made themselves!

Uneducation equals not stupidity, it simply means not having gone to schools where the students are issued diplomas telling them NOW YOU ARE EDUCATED.

Answer 7

lololol. like the smart educated people in america you mean?

there is some sort of positive correlation between higher education and secularism i think, try dawkins "the god delusion" for more ways to troll religious people.

Answer 8

DUHHHHHHHH!!!!! Just recently figured that one out did you???? And to go a step further.... In the more advanced cultures, its become a matter of class, stature, financial gain and corruption. ie: Taking advantage of the lesser intelligent. :D:D:D

Answer 9

yes all religious people are dum because they dont know the truth about religion

Answer 10

No, but it helps