Is there a correlation between IQ and religious belief?

Question

I have no opinion, but have noticed a few references to it here, I suppose I should just Google it, but thought it might be a good wooden spoon on this forum.

Answer 1

not at all .. iq has nothing to do with religeon ..

Answer 2

To -- "batgirl2good" -- Let's compare notes. My IQ is 167, and I, too, am a Christian. From the studies and surveys I've read, I think that there may not be too much in the way of an inverse correlation between IQ, and faith that is not control-freakish and invasive. However, the more control-freakish, repressive, and bigoted a person is toward such things as abortion rights and equal rights for gays, the lower his IQ is likely to be. I haven't seen the substantiation of *this* as yet -- but I'd be willing to bet that the average IQ of the lemmings of the RRR Cult... the "Religious" Radical Right... might well be only 80 or less. It takes a LOT of ignorance to seek to deprive millions of people of valuable rights!

Answer 3

It is not necessarily true that IQ has anything to do with whether you are a Christian or not. All of the entries here that are to the contrary are meaningly. That is just ones own opinion and as they say, everyone is entitled to an opinion. There are no scientific prove that says Christians are smarter than those who do not consider themselves to be so, but as an off-the -cuff indication, just read the responses you have been getting from those who scoff the Christian belief and you will receive all the prove you need.
Thank You and God Bless...

Answer 4

I found one website that presents the statitics; it also criticised the study for possible bias and ignoring other factors that affected the results.

Apparently, the study covered several different countries in the world and it generally showed this:
Poor undeveloped area = more religion = lower education = lower IQ.
Rich developed area = less religion = higher education = higher IQ.

It appears that the study ignored factors such as more affluence and better education. It is already understood that people tend to be more religious when life is rougher and forget about God when they have more material comfort--this has been know since antiquity.

The study might be more accurate if they stuck to samples within one country and staying within the same or similar economic conditions.

I am having reglious meeting at my house tonight, we have several medical doctors and PhDs in our group. My wife is religious and has two Masters Degrees, I know several medical doctors who regularly attend Hindu temple or the Islamic Center. The chief psychiatrist of our local hospital is very active in giving childrens classes at her mosque.

I have seen too many exceptions to this rule to take these results very seriously. I think this study is going wind up like the "scientific" studies of the past that "proved" black people have smaller brains than white people.

I do find it hard to believe that people of higher IQ will follow a very fundamentalist or literal religion; but contrary to this stereotype, all religous people aren't like that. My own religion, the Baha'i Faith, has scriptures that support evolution and harmony between science and religion is one of the principles.

Thank you for this interesting question; you have definitely "touched a nerve."

Answer 5

There are about 40 studies, conducted over the past 80 years, that reveal a statistically significant INVERSE correlation between intelligence and religiosity. In plainer language, they found that the more intelligent a person is, the LESS likely he is to be religious.

We're not entitled to conclude causality from these data, but there are three possibilities:

1. Considering religion important lowers measured IQ (unlikely, since IQ is substantially genetic whereas belief is not).

2. The causality is via other factors not considered, such as socio-economic conditions, cultural history, or physical environment (definitely possible).

3. Having a higher measured IQ lowers your likelihood of considering religion important (most likely).

If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Intelligence tests mainly provide an indication of reasoning ability and problem solving ability... critical thought. These are the very qualities that see through religion, and recognize it for what it is; i.e., religion cannot survive the glaring light of reason and critical thought. This was well understood by important figures in religious history. This is why the early church destroyed all the writings that were in conflict with dogma, such as Greek philosophical, medical and mathematical knowledge... all the good stuff... which led directly to the Dark Ages.

Just to illustrate the point, here's what Martin Luther, the 'father' of protestantism, had to say about it:

"Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God." ~ Martin Luther

"There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason... Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason should be destroyed in all Christians." ~ Martin Luther

Christianity is essentially a criminal business enterprise... in fact, it is the world's longest running and most successful Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) scam. The product they are selling is 'salvation'... and the 'pay plan' doesn't kick in until after you're dead. What a racket! FORTUNATELY, it only works on those who are gullible enough, and sufficiently lacking in critical thinking skills, to fall for it. UNfortunately, THAT accounts for about 75% of the population of the USA. (There are a lot more people who DON'T know how to think properly than there are people who DO know how to think properly.) That is why there are a lot more religious people in the USA than there are 'Free-thinkers'... including Atheists. Also, Christians generally do not realize that proselytizing (spreading the 'good news') is a key element of the Christian MLM MARKETING PLAN, which was instituted after Christianity lost the political power that had previously allowed them to simply torture and kill anybody who did not comply.

Interestingly, statistics on supernatural beliefs count the USA on a par with backward, developing Third World nations, rather than among modern, advanced industrial powers.

********************

"Selling eternal life is an unbeatable business, with no customers ever asking for their money back after the goods are not delivered." ~ Victor J. Stenger

"Businesses may come and go, but religion will last forever, for in no other endeavor does the consumer blame himself for product failure."  ~ Harvard Lampoon, "Doon" (paraphrase)

Answer 6

Intelligent people with high IQ's seem to use more logic and common sense than people with low IQ's and low education, religion prefers uneducated people because they are easy to manipulate and create fear in them so they will follow and obey the teachings of the church, all you have to do is look at religions today like Islam, JW's, Mormons, baptists, televangelists, and Pentecostals to name a few, and I see all of these religious denominations as fanatical movements that pray on the hopeless, the poor, and uneducated, and it dose not take a brain surgeon to see just how these religions work today.

Answer 7

I'd love to say yes...
Especially after seeing people like Jerry Falwel who preach death & destruction to anything different...
I'd love to put him and his ridiculousness in a nice tidy box called stupid & disregard it all....

Unfortunately, no- there is no measurable correlation between a person's intelligence and their religious beliefs... An argument might be made about affluence and religion - but that wasn't the question.

As a side note,
There is little concrete information regarding "Religiosity" (the correlation between intelligence & a belief system). In fact, no official studies have been conducted which provide ANY conclusive results.

Answer 8

you moreover mght proved IQ skill no longer something. Why do human beings take care of "Mensa" like that's an accolade that leaves you with inherent happiness as quickly as accomplishing admission? no one cares approximately those intense IQ societies as they are truly pointless. i've got not at all met one authentic psychological that ever had to brag approximately his IQ among his friends to fulfill what a mathematical score instructed him wherein infrequently measures something different than cognitive skill which isn't what human beings are "fullyyt" outfitted upon.

Answer 9

Scripture says there is. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Jesus said that certain things are hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes.

What would be better?:
(A) An IQ of 200 and daily contact with your peers at Joe Blow University.
(B) An IQ of 90 and daily contact with Christian brothers and sisters and the supreme intelligence of the universe.

Answer 10

According to this "Godless Science" page, yes there is, and it's negative. As education and IQ increase, religiosity decreases. It cites a tremendous number of sources, including polls from Nature, Scientific American and Skeptic that all back up this claim, among others. Check it out, it's pretty interesting.

Am I the only one to actually cite sources? Looks like I am, since that youtube video below me is just a song. Good song, but a song nonetheless.

Answer 11

Yes there is a correlation, a negative correlation. The higher someones IQ the less likely they are to be religious. I read this a while ago, so I don't have the sources handy, but it shouldn't be too hard to find. And the negative correlation seems to make sense on a logical level too. Having faith in invisible and unprovable things doesn't require any smarts and comes easier to people who don't think critically.