When did it ever become a fact that those who believe in Christ are not smart?

Question

Hi I'm not perfect but I do believe in God and Jesus. I'm not a genius but I had stellar grades in college, I was in the top three percent of the entrance results of our university entrance exam. My question is this why do so many people assume a believer of the Christian faith is dumb? Can you justify your answer aside from because you guys believe in the resurrection of your Christ?
I'm just concerned that when I'll have kids they'll be ashamed to profess Christian faith.

Answer 1

At the present time, many of the most vocal and visible members of the Christian religion tend to be at best badly misinformed, more likely gullible, at worst, yes, just plain stupid. I'm talking about people like Jan, above, with her bizarre conspiracy theories about hate crime legislation, or the many Christians across the net who indulge in poor arguments and worse spelling, and about things like end-time prophecies and the creationist movement.

Worse, Christianity has, by and large, allowed a number of unpleasant individuals to become its spokespeople by default, people like William Donohue of the Catholic League, and televangelists like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye and many others, not to mention the many politicians who have used their professed Christianity to gain elected office and later turned out to be corrupt or incompetent. Granted, these persons have largely elevated themselves to the level of spokesperson for Christianity, but the fact that Christians have allowed them to do so with only minimal complaint tends to lead people to conclude that they do in fact speak for Christians, even if such a conclusion is not warranted.

Unfortunately, people tend to judge the mass of a group by the people that are visible, and often by the worst examples that they see. Consequently, they assume that all members of that group, in this case Christians, are as bad as the worst members.

Answer 2

I don't think it is necessarily a fact; Anecdotally it has some basis; especially since I know some people who have been assaulted when they asked questions of people who claimed to be Believers. One Leading Pastor Down South Opened a Pedestrian ThoroughFare by driving a SUV though it.
In Debates, I have seen Representatives of the Christian Faith suddenly get totaled in discussion, and instead of conceding points, they attack the unbeliever.
I have talked with Believers here who had viewpoints about Abortion that differed from mine, when it came down to certain issues, they admitted they had no answer to what I had said, but this ( and they outlined their position) is what I believe. Thats a more tenable position, than someone who presents a set of un-related propositions, and then jumps to an unrelated conclusion.
What needs to happen is that the Believers need to get some solid education in their faith. What passes for a "defensible" position is not really a logical position IF you do not know how you get to that Proposition, or to that Conclusion. Its a Perfectly Fine Profession of Faith, but be prepared to give a full defense of the Faith.
Just remember, not everyone agrees with your assumptions, so your professions of faith is Logical, and someone else might have different assumptions and arrive at a different conclusion; Actually, they may have many assumptions that ARE the same, but they might have one or more different, and arrive at a different conclusion. Does that Invalidate their position ?

Please note, I am not technically an Atheist as this discussion board knows it.

Answer 3

You get that opinion because many of the fundamentalist groups and pentecostals shun intellectualism. It's only in the past less than 10 years that they've even really mandated sending their clergy to seminary.

Here's an example: Several members of the local Assembly of God were very excited recently about the opportunity to go abroad and to do missionary work in Sri Lanka. It was all the buzz. Many were so delighted with the prospects of heading out to Africa to bring God's word. Some weeks later I (Catholic) overheard bits of this news. I put in my 2¢ worth and told them that Sri Lanka is a fairly small island off the southeast coast of India. NO-ONE else at all had realized that! Pretty near shocking! If one or two had that belief, that's one thing....but this was a large group of church members! Most had no idea about all of the trouble going on down there as well with the Tamil Tigers and other groups. In the end, the trip was cancelled.....they only wanted to "be missionaries" as they claimed..."not martyrs"!

Catholicism, on the other hand, has brought about the lion's share of intellectuals and "giants of the faith".... education is revered (as seen from the amount of Catholic schools run by priests, monks and nuns in this country) in addition to the sheer size of the church....over 1.1 Billion members. It was the Catholic Church single-handedly that raised an entire class of citizens from lower class into the middle class by means of Catholic schools.

In the U.S. there are
Catholic Colleges & Universities -- 187
Methodist -- 90
Presbyterian -- 62
Lutheran -- 52
Episcopal -- 19
Baptist -- 52

Assembly of God -- 19
Church of God -- 6

Answer 4

well people think that those who believe and have faith have a screw loose. They even thought and still do that Jesus the King and almighty Savior was crazy. I do not much care what people think of me, I know the truth. Many have hard hearts and are incapable of seeing the truth, what is unfamiliar to tham means crazy or worng. As for children I have young children in school who are not ashamed of christ or God or any of their beliefs, they know most are against their beleifs and they do not care they are happy to work for the Lord.

Answer 5

There are intelligent persons on both sides of belief in the existence of Jesus Christ as the God/Man.To believe otherwise is ignorant.

From my personal perpective, as a follower of Jesus Christ(Christian) it is rather a Spiritual issue.

I think we have a stalemate.

Answer 6

Do you understand what is going on right now in America? There are groups with their own agendas, who are attempting to turn the tables and say that Christians are bigots and haters. This is of course the farthest thing from fact, but it is helpful to
their agenda if they can force the Christian God out of everything.
There is a bill that they are trying to pass thru on the federal lawbooks that says that
if you hand someone a copy of a Bible then you are committing a "hate crime". Now there are laws against anyone who physcially attacks another human being, regardless of who that person is - its called "assault", or "assault with a deadly weapon". These crimes are punishable under the strictest codes in the book.
But thats not good enough. They want to pass this bill called HR1529 that says that if you give out scripture that says God is against homosexuality, then you must have been "thinking of a hate crime" because you disagree with being gay. And, thinking of that crime is equally as bad as comitting it, so you will be arrested. period. Now if
this sounds silly to you, its already passed on a State level in our state, Pennsylvania.
Two 75 yr old grandmoms were arrested
(Philly is only 25 minutes from me) they
were handcuffed, fingerprinted, changed to prison garb and thrown into County Jail into general population. They face 47 years each in prison. Did they attack someone?
No, they didn't. They handed out Bibles outside of their church. Thats it. And thats all it took. Can you imagine a law where the cops can guess what you are thinking and arrest you? Unbelievable, but the gay community is getting away with this TODAY.
They are spreading this nonsense about Christians not being smart, and they are also the ones spreading the stuff about Christians being haters of mankind.
Its all their agenda; Christians are in the way of what they want: to be recognized as their own separate race of people, and be
not only protected by law, but they want their lives to be more special than anyone else's, in that this bill HR1529 states that if you mug and seriously injure an elderly woman, you will get 33%LESS JAIL TIME than the person gets who hands out scripture to a gay guy. That is a worse crime in the eyes of the law, than injuring
and old defenseless woman. Why? Because its against gays. This crap has got to find its end. America is losing their rights to freedom of speech under that proposed bill, and their freedom of religion, all in one shot.
The bill as its written, will make a Pastor liable for arrest if he gives a sermon; it
reads that if you are a Christian mother who is raising her children with Christian values and morals, you can very well have your children taken from you because since you are not teaching them the wonderful benefits of the choices in lifestyles, you are a hater, and therefore a child abuser.
This bill is called "the most dangerous piece of legislation ever in America".
As a Bible teacher, I am sure to be arrested just after the bill goes into affect (and I pray it does not pass, of course). Fellow Bible scholars have contacted me that they have emergency plans in affect where someone is to take their children when they are arrested. Others are actually handing over legal custody of their children to other family members, because they are afraid to have their children thrown into some unknown foster care center. I don't blame
them. This is deadly serious, friend.
Christ suffered and was persecuted, and it may be that we have a bit of that coming our way; but we have to endure, and we will.
So what you are hearing about Christians not being smart, is just part of what is to come. We have the fight of our lives ahead.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we have the
victory.

Answer 7

it's part of the standard fare from the Liberal Media. Christians are constantly portrayed as mouth-breathing fools...the left hates Christianity because the teachings of Christ convict the Left for the mindless hedonists that they truly are.

brind your kids up to recognize that the World won't love them...the World is controlled by Satan, and he has lots of nice toys to snare the mindless...

keep the Faith, darlin...you'll be fine. "Blessed are those who are persecuted in my name..."

Answer 8

It is not a fact. It's just something non believers like to make up about those who believe in and know God, cause it makes them feel better in their inadequacy of not being able to find God.

Answer 9

Why says that religious people are dumb? I was merely suggesting that they believed in things without the evidence to support them.

Many were raised in an environment steeped in faith, as opposed to the scientific method. Can you prove that a god exists, much less your own particular deity?

Answer 10

they got to you thats all..they got you to think that it is not cool to believe in god... you d rather be free to express ur ideas and believe in urself and be gay..i dont have anything against gay people i just think it is a hype nowadays and thats y i took it as an example
i am a muslim u are my christian sister god bless