Does your religion impact on your intelligence? Or vice versa? Or neither?

Question

So I've found a lot of people on here, from all the "sides" - the atheists, the muslims, the christians, the jews, etc etc, who seem to think that your religious beliefs are an indication of your intelligence.

And apparently it can work both ways - the Atheists seem to think the Christians fail to understand concepts such as evolution based on the fact they follow the religion they do, and the Christians often suggest Atheists are stupid for failing to see evidence of the God they believe in.

So why is this? How many of you think religion is a reflection of intelligence? Is it really? Have you come across proof, other than speculation? I genuinely want to know...so I'm throwing it wide open here.

Does your intelligence affect your religious beliefs? Or do your religious beliefs affect your intelligence, even? Or neither?

Answer 1

I honestly do not think intelligence determines your religion. Look at it this way - Richard Dawkins, so it is said, is one of the top scientists in the world and is an Atheist. Personally I find his logic extremely poor and elementary, debating with him about religion would be like debating with a four year old. This does not mean his intelligence is any lower, but his concept of the supernatural or the divine is just absent. He has no concept of it. To the contrary Paul, who, of all the people I can think of, appears the most intelligent and educated for his time, was a strong and devout Christian. Both these men may be intelligent and well educated, they may have high IQs, but what matters concerning religion is your concept of the supernatural. If you cannot comprehend a divine being whatsoever, you will be steered toward Atheism. If you feel the divine all around and within you, you may be steered toward the Eastern religions. If you feel that the divine in certain circumstances, then you may be steered toward Christianity.

The problem with Dawkins and other Atheists is that they have problems understanding the supernatural. They see things only in a rational way. "It must be measurable, it must be visible, it must be verifiable". That is not an entirely poor or wise outlook. Others may see the supernatural as timeless, boundless, infinite, penetrating, inward, etc. It does not make them any smarter, nor does it make them a kook.

A PhD may reject God but a six year old be absolutely convinced that God exists, and to flip it around a PhD may be a devout Christian. Intelligence really has nothing to do with it. It just depends if you can only see things in a rational, measurable way, or if you see things as supernatural, sacred, Providential.

Answer 2

Neither. People only make that argument about the impact of religion on intelligence to try to make the other side look bad. You are right, too. All sides of the debate do it. I guess, naturally, if you believe something to be a fact, you might think that someone who does not believe that supposed "fact" is not as intelligent as you, but the fact is that NONE of us knows everything. So even if someone is wrong about their religion (or lack thereof), it does not make them more intelligent. It just makes them right about that one thing. You can find endless lists of geniuses AND total imbeciles throughout history that are atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jews, women, men, black, white, etc. etc. The only thing that is proven by this is that the human race is very diverse.

Answer 3

Score one for the christians. I do not think that people must be less intelligent to believe in a god. Brainwashed, yes. Deluded, yes. In fact, I have seen some christians come up with extremely beautiful logical arguments as to why god is real. Of course, they were not smart enough to realize that logical arguments are not worth anything, but hey, that does not make them any less intelligent than atheists.

Answer 4

Well, I certainly think my intelligence *enhances* my religious beliefs . . . reconstructing a pre-xian Viking Age worldview and folkway takes a lot of study. As in books with BIG words and abstruse concepts! Heathenry: it may be primitive, but it's not for stupid people. ;-)

Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. This is religion here. (I'm as socially clueless as an Asberger, but eventually I try to play along like I know what's happening . . . lol)

Answer 5

I don't observe that it is an indicator of intelligence. I suppose we just have anecdotal evidence to go on. I have tested high on IQ tests, and I am a non-organized religion type, non-atheist. How's that for non-committal?

I know of a guy ( a co-worker is married to) who is intensely religious, also intellectually challenged.

Answer 6

As I even have grown older and seen greater of what existence is rather like, I even tend to think of in step with probability it wasn't lots favoritism as a drained and wiped out mom who merely did no longer have it in her to handle each and all of the crap anymore. I now see a woman who stored a kin at the same time, on her very own and might have merely gotten tired of chasing after a definite one. She would possibly no longer have even found out what grew to become into taking place, so a approaches as how others observed it and how the "favored" one observed it.

Answer 7

Intelligence has nothing to do with religion. It is only a capacity for learning.

Answer 8

If you make a list of the most well educated states you will have an inverse list on the most religious states.

Answer 9

I don't think IQ has any correlation with religious belief. Maybe your emotional IQ though....

Answer 10

The portion of America that is known as The Bible Belt also has the lowest rating for education in the country.

Coincidence? I think not.