Why do "smart" people think that they are more qualified to talk about religion?

Question

So like, people are saying that people with more education are less likely to be religious? Whats that supposed to prove?
how does learning how to be an engineer make u qualified to make judgements about God?
I mean studying philosophy, theology, psychiatry, (and im unsure about philo and psych)...maybe

i bet its cause they're
1. arrogant
2. probably have an easier life cause their rich enough to go to college/they can get more money with degree
3. afraid that their system of thinking might be wrong and not explain everything

Answer 1

Well, it is a fact. Religiousness and education are negatively correlated. And you're right; at the heart of any "Smart Person X is an atheist/ is a Christian" is an argument from authority.

I don't think intelligent people are necessarily more qualified to talk about religion, but it's hard to argue that they are ipso facto less qualified.

Regarding your three conjectures:
1. I can't speak for other people, but personally, education has taught me humility. One of the great lessons of education is the knowledge of just what a tiny fraction of the sum of human knowledge any individual person can know.

2. I know people who are too rich to go to college. If you're broke enough, the government will pay for it or loan you the money.

3. Another feature of education is getting a better sense of the limits of a theory's applicability. The theory of evolution, for example, makes no claims about the origin of life. It only covers change in allele frequencies over time.