Are most geniuses atheist or believer? MENSA must have done a study of this...?

Answer 1

I'm a member...by the way I'm a Christian..I don't think it really matters what someones belief is..there are people from all walks of life that are smart, regardless of their religious backgrounds or social/economic background.

Answer 2

Searcher is right -

For a person to assume that MENSA is capable of measuring actual intelligence is a leap of faith far greater than the belief in a creator.

IQ tests are culturally biased and so are "genius societies" and "honor rolls".... they are comprised of people who have good memory retention and the money and time to join such clubs.

Religion can be such an integral part of the way a person thinks, depending on how they were conditioned as a child.
It doen't make them less intelligent, it just means they are given different information from the get-go.

Furthermore, if atheists and creationists want to prove eachother stupid - then this kind of rhetoric will work to both their advantages equally.

Answer 3

Being a minister I must be honest for it effects my tree of life. But even w/ this honesty I know I will draw thumbs down to those that just can't understand.

I was a 30 yr atheist, studied in science, mathematics (calc, trig, etc), engineer, chemist, architecture, wood working and a multitude of other skills, traits and knowledge.

Yet today, with an IQ of a 146 (top end of genius), and not tested by some cheap web site (had meningitis and went thru blood and other tests to ensure I was ok). I am a minister today, but not a minister as you would assume wearing black, collar, standing in a church. But a minister of the truth, for G_D called me, and told me this was my path.

I was an atheist for those 30 yrs to learn and understand that side and thinking. Then I was given sight, and still am getting it, to what the truth is. And how it all links and meshes together.

I will say this. Those that are deeply religious, think they are all high n mighty are those that are the farthest from Him. And actually, atheists are closer to Him then they realize, they lack but just 1 or 2 doors being opened for them to go....ahhhh, NOW it all makes sense! Cause normally the atheists are the ones who have dug n dug into the research and cross referenced everything and are the ones who find the flaws. Problem is, instead of just calling those flaws out, they need to seek why those flaws are there. Then the picture would start to emerge before their eyes.

Here is one slight mind blower as a door, understand this and you'll understand how much history is messed up in books. Native American Indians knew the name of G_D before white man came, over 1,000 years before any record of white man coming, even spanish. How? Now think of the Tribe of Dan, the Knights Templar and what was on the sails of Columbus's ships. Enjoy the rabbit hole :)

Answer 4

Really doesn't matter. My brother is a professional psychologist and has been giving IQ rests along with a lot f otherr style tests and he will be the fist to tell you IQ tests mean nothing. They tend to show you what or how you have been taught and not really rather you are a genius or not. Now I would say religious people tend to have different schooling preferences (less math and science) and being that IQ tests tend to have a lot of mate that alone will knock the scores down. I know some religious people that are very intelligent and some atheists that are pretty stupid. It is as much a matter of culture and upbringing as it is a matter of how "smart" someone is.

Answer 5

I haven't seen a study like that from Mensa, but I have seen other studies that show that the higher the level of education someone attains, the less likely they are to believe the bible to be literally true.

EDIT - I don't understand why Sun Eagle is getting so many thumbs down for his/her answer. The answer is relevant to the question.

Answer 6

Logical fallacy: appeal to false authority. The answer is surely a little more complex. Most people throughout history have been believers in some god or gods, so in terms of raw numbers the answer is likely to be theists. How would we go about finding out the answer? Polls? Sure, but then I have little "faith" in surveys that do not question EVERYONE in a given culture.

Answer 7

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

Your question, of course, ignores the fact that there are more theists than atheists; you want to look at the relative ratios in MENSA and the population at large, not raw numbers.

Answer 8

As a 35-year member of MENSA, I can state that MY group is about equally split. Although there are NO fundamentalists from ANY religion in it.

FYI: I am a Catholic theologian and an anthropologist/archaeologist.

Answer 9

Nick is quite right.

But it goes further. MENSA's Paul Bell has conducted precisely such a study, collating data from 54 studies. In all but 4 of these religiosity was negatively correlated with intelligence - in other words, the more stupid you are the more likely you are to believe in god.

Answer 10

Intelligence stats depend on the default religious view. The largest majority will always have the lowest intelligence, and the smallest minority will typically have the highest intelligence. It doesn't matter which is which. It takes intelligence to contemplate abstract concepts, and the contemplation of abstract concepts is necessary to conversion (or deconversion). In a Christian country, Buddhists will have higher IQ's. In a Buddhist country, Christians will have higher IQ's. In China, Christians will have higher IQ's than atheists. In the United States, atheists will have higher IQ's than Christians.

Answer 11

I'm thinking believer, considering how many people express their different types of beliefs compared to atheist who have belong to limited groups expressing their disbelief.
MENSA is westernised as well, with more % of ppl christian than anything else.
There's also religions in which you marry into or get born into, the ones you cant escape or you can be prepared to be pursecuted surely that would add to the numbers.
Good question btw~