What are the mean IQs among different religions?

Question

What is the average IQ among different groups of relgions? I would like to know the difference between atheists, christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, Buddhists, etc.

If possible, quote a link.

Answer 1

Southern Baptist- 70

Answer 2

If the truth could be known, I would BET very good money that the average IQ of the lemmings of the hateful, UN-Christian, and antisocial RRR Cult -- the "Religious Radical Right" -- is 80 or less. The cult's leaders' propaganda TARGETS low-IQ folks, because most intelligent people would want NOTHING to do with their hate-agendas against the personal liberties of tens of millions of people.

There are around 15 million RRR Cultists in the USA -- about 5% of the total population. And around the same number of people have IQs of 70 or less... the margin of mild retardation. I'm betting that these two sets overlap a LOT.

Answer 3

I don't know about a case-by-ase study with different religions (or in the examples you use, different religions AND their different sects). I think you'd have to be careful with a study like this though, since some countries or religions where a certain religion prevails might have bad economies, health problems, etc. that might possibly contribute to mental capacities.

However, Michael Shermer points out in his book "Why We Believe" and "Why People Believe Weird Things" is that those who are very, very religious actually tend to have HIGH IQs, not low IQs as some might suspect. However, it's the high IQ that gives them the ability to rationalize away anything that opposes their deep-set religious beliefs. I imagine this goes for "fundies" of any group. You can still be a "smart" person who came to believe in some particular belief for "dumb" reasons.

Answer 4

If you look at this issue logically; apart from prejudice, then it should be apparent that intelligence has nothing to do with religion, one way or the other. It has been said that a faulty premise will lead to a wrong conclusion, no matter how brilliant the reasoning. A very intelligent person can be wrong about what they believe, and especially if thier intelligence is clouded by prejudice or influenced by their own personal motives or personality flaws. Pride, for example, can close a persons mind so that they are unwilling to either prove the foundation of their own beliefs, or investigate the evidence for a belief that is different than their own. On the other hand a person who has less intelligence is not necessarily wrong about what they believe.

Albert Einstein once said that "If I have seen farther than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." In other words what he discovered what not the result of his intelligence alone, but it was also a cumulative discovery and resultant understanding of himself, and of all those who had preceded him. This generally is the case with all sciences. The "truth" in this regard is progressive and gradual, and not always in a straight line. If you read the Bible from cover to cover with an open mind you will see that God has also revealed himself and his purpose in a similar manner. It does not take a great intelligence to understand the Bible, but it does take a great effort, and in fact the Bible was written so that proud and self-serving individuals can not understand it, but ordinary people with only enough education to know how to read can understand it if they demonstrate their sincerity through personal effort, and a willingness to learn even from a source which may be unpopular.
There is a saying among my friends that goes like this :"Make the truth your own". What this means is that no one should just assume that whatever is handed to them is the truth, but instead we need to investigate the basis for that teaching, or belief, and prove it to ourselves, one way or the other. Very few people, regardless of how little or much intelligence they have, do that.
The beliefs of many religions which claim to believe in the Bible are not only not found in the Bible, but some of those beliefs contradict what the Bible says. I have spoken to people of many religions and this is one thing that I have told them: "If you believe that you can prove that your religion is the truth, I am willing to listen to what you say." Are you intelligent and open minded enough to say the same thing? When I say that I don't promise to change my view or religion, but I just promise to listen. If you, or anyone here, honestly believe that your view, regardless of what it is, is correct then you should be willing to do the same. If, on the other hand, you are unwilling to listen to evidence which may disagree with your beliefs, and even more so, if you are completely unable or unwilling to demonstrate the evidence that what you believe is the truth, then you fooling no one but yourself.

When I made this offer to some Mormons it was evident that not only were they unwilling to prove their faith, but they didn't even think it was necessary. What they believe is that if a person hears the message which is the truth, then God will give them the witness to that effect in their heart, or I guess in other words if it sounds good then it must be true. Does that make sense to anyone else? Here is the scripture I showed them, and while normally I don't use the King James Version a lot, I use it here because I like the way it reads in this verse, and because it is a version that they use:

(KJV) Proverbs 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

(GodsWord) Proverbs 28:26 Whoever trusts his own heart is a fool. Whoever walks in wisdom will survive.

Now I'm not putting these people down, but this is just one example of what I am talking about. One lady who was a pentacostal told me "I know I'm right in my heart." Isn't that what almost everyone says about what they believe?

Answer 5

I'd like to say that atheists have the highest IQ, since it certainly seems to me that the most intelligent people I know are atheist. Most likely, however, its approximately the same between different religions since IQ is not a tester of common sense, open mind, or inquisitive spirit.

Meum- An IQ of 70 is legally considered mentally impaired. An IQ of 100 is considered the average with a standard deviation of 10.

Answer 6

I wouldn't trust the facts that people give you. It would be really hard to get an accurate study on this, and would vary based on your test group.

For what its worth, they say a philosophy/theology degree is best for helping you get a good score on your LSATs because it promotes critical thinking skills. That's similar to what an IQ test takes, and it could be people of any religion or none at all who study philosophy. So it all depends on the person.

Answer 7

Jews should get the highest, as their religion push education through life a lot more than any others.
Muslims scholars used to make amazing mathematicians, but not sure its still relevant today. This was due to the fact that they could not represent god images or icons so they developed very intricated patterns to reflect the spirituality of god.
Atheist are normally above average, as they tend to explain the world in their own view and reasonings, which require some more brain power than reading scriptures...
Agnostic should be even more intelligent, or experimented in life, as you learn with time to respect life and nature, and other anomalies in our world...

Answer 8

I only know about Livermore California. It has the highest average IQ. of any city in the world due to the Nuclear Labs there. The scientists at the labs are 82% Christian which is the same as the national average.

Answer 9

It is not raw "IQ" which determines one's acceptability to God and Christ, but the manner in which one lives his life.

(Psalm 1:1-4) Happy is the man that has not walked in the counsel of the wicked ones... But his delight is in the law of Jehovah... And everything he does will succeed. The wicked are not like that

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20000822a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20040622/article_01.htm

Answer 10

the excellent faith is the only that speaks on your soul. God has created many faiths to greater healthy the numerous varieties of folk, despite the fact that it is as much as you to discover which one suits the excellent. in case you come across something in a faith that would not look suitable to you, then you definately are being informed from interior that it isn't the relgion for you. it is guy, not God, who says that there is in trouble-free terms one ideal faith. people who say that their faith is the only one for each guy or woman and that all and sundry others are incorrect, could desire to realize that they are being narrowminded and in all probability bigoted. they could desire to ask themselves how they could experience if somebody from yet another faith informed them that their faith replaced into incorrect. and that they could desire to think of on the subject of the incontrovertible fact that their faith did not exist till the founder of their faith replaced into born. they could desire to ask what replaced into the only ideal faith in the previous the time of the founder of their faith.

Answer 11

I don't have any stats about the different religions, but there is a negative correlation between intelligence and religious belief.

http://w-uh.com/posts/031226a-religion_vs_IQ.html
http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Jesus/Intelligence%20&%20religion.htm