Can a person believe in God and be considered intelligent by atheists?

Question

I ask this because one of my friends is an atheist and constantly brings up the religious debate. he always asks how i can believe in god even though i'm in grad school(impossible apparently). why do atheists have such a low opinion of christians in regards to intelligence? my friend tells me to "seek the truth" but doesn't believe me when i tell him that i used to be an atheist years ago and found god after doing my own "truth search". it sounds similar to arrogant liberals that don't believe i used to be a liberal, then became conservative AFTER going to college and getting an education. is there no way, in your atheist mind, that a person can be intelligent and christian, or are they mutually incompatible with each other? can't a person search for the truth and find a different answer than you? or do you only have respect for people that believe exactly as you do? besides, intelligence is all relative and there are plenty of stupid atheists to go around, like prof. rosie o'donnell

Answer 1

Athiests can and do respect me even though I am a Christian. There are some who don't. However, some Christians look down terribly on athiests. This is just as ignorant.

Answer 2

A person can be intelligent and believe in a god. The reason is that believing in a god is a form of self delusion. Self rightousness is a very strong drug. I used to be a xtain. I went to church and believed most of what I learned in church. As for me I grew up in a small town and lived a rather sheltered life. There was a time in my life that I was unable to work and spent a lot of time reading, watching and listening to programs and articles about history, philosophy, archeology, astronomy,evolution and many other subjects related to the latter. It was not a decision to be an Atheist. It just happened and there was no other way to be. I wish I knew what the ''trigger'' is that opens a persons mind to reality. I still find it hard to respect those who believe in a god and have a vast amount of knowledge available to them. I tend to think that education was the key to my change. Example: I had known about the Holocaust since high school but I never really learned the details of how horrific it was. Knowing this and believing in a loving god that would allow such things does not make sense.

Answer 3

There are many intelligent Christians who've delved into the issue of God's existence and the reality of Christ's resurrection. They've come to the same conclusion that you and I have: there is more than adequate evidence to suggest that He exists and that Christ's claims about Himself were valid.

Since some atheists' primary objection to religion is based on their version of intellectual analysis, anyone who disagrees with them has to be wrong and stupid. Please notice that I said, "Some," not all. Not all atheists are that intolerant, but there are quite a few who can't come up with anything better by way of counter-argument than "Christians are ignorant fools, nanny nanny boo boo."

Personally, I think it's a sad commentary on that particular group of atheists' alleged tolerance and intellect. If the best you can come up with by way of argument is insulting someone else, you didn't have much of a case to begin with.

Answer 4

The problem with your friend is the pass expericences with Christian fantics. He is put off by people who could not field his question about God. The best thing you can do for your friend is to sit do with him and find out what issues of faith he has. There is a big difference from Religion and Faith. He lacks Faith. Start with the basic beliefs in the universe. The afterlife, evolution, love, things like that. Then bring him to the bible. If he can accept the bible as your base of refrence then he can see the faith he lacks.

Answer 5

Yes. There are plenty of intelligent christians, muslims and hindus. Most of them have their beliefs installed in their brains in childhood and it becomes an addiction just as strong as drugs or pornography. In fact you could say religion is spiritual pornography.
I went through this process as a child and it takes decades to recover but there is always something in the dark recesses of the brain that festers like a slow cancer and you have to be aware of that.
Good luck, hope you become god free soon.

Answer 6

Yes, I consider many religious people to be intelligent. I can't disprove your god unequivocally so I'm not going to call you stupid for believing it.

I just tend to have a problem with people who use their religion as a means of perpetuating their ignorance about science. Science and god are not mutually exclusive. They can work together. As long as you realize this, then I say, yes, I could consider you intelligent.

Answer 7

Short answer: yes.
As an atheist I have very good friends who are theists and whom I consider as intellectual equals. So how can this be? From my atheist perspective: maybe they haven't had the benefit of being able to look at the issue from an objective point of view, as they have been raised from birth to believe in what their parents and church taught them. Maybe in the same situation I would believe the same thing as them???

Answer 8

What do I believe in? Other than myself? I believe in myself, because no matter how bad things get, I believe that I will make it through, so in that sense, I am believing in myself. What do I think of, that I also believe in? Well, that is the thought of God, and my will goes through it. So yes, I do believe in God, but you don’t need to, like, constantly believe in God, you can, but you pour yourself into it, then you are a new person, so you might as well enjoy that before you pour yourself into it again, but it is definitely an endless source of pleasure.

Answer 9

People who believe in god are as intelligent as people who don't. However, the curve goes way down when you're talking about the ultra-religious. Now I have a question for you: Do you think people who believe are more moral than those who don't?

Answer 10

Well, the man who Postulated Big Bang was a Catholic Preist

The man who is the Father of Genetics is a Catholic Abbot.

Isaac Newton spent part of his life figuring out what day Jesus was crusified.

Einstein said Science without Religon is Lame and Religion without Science is Blind.