Someone just said that most intelligent people don't believe in religion?

Question

In the UK, statistics show that more than half of us believe in God or some form of higher power, and there was a survey done recently that states that about that number also no longer believe in evolution. Are we to believe that they are all unintellingent?

Answer 1

To be a non-believer is a valid choice. Every person needs to make this choice through free will. Otherwise, any relationship with God is not a relationship, but slave to master submission.

with that said, what I will say about non-belief and intelligence, is the choice to be a non-believer does not instantly elevate oneself to "enlightened intelligence" (and by that I mean earn the privilage of calling believers unintelligent).

what the atheist can not state is they are in absolute possession of all knowledge, therefore, can not state they ar absolutely sure of God's non-existance. To say this, and then state this is the only intelligent choice, is a fallacy, due to the actual lack of knowledge needed to make such a statement.

I will cede the atheist his or her ability to make a choice. What I will not agree is this choice makes them intelligent and leaves my choice an indication of a lack of intelligence.

Answer 2

To Nicole, Albert Einstein did NOT believe in "god". Here is a quote from a letter he wrote regarding his beliefs :

"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.".

The following quote is from a 2002 Mensa Magazine which suggests that lower IQ is linked to religious beliefs :

"Several research studies have been published on the statistical relationship between religiosity and educational level, or religiosity and IQ. Michael Shermer, in How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science, describes a large survey of randomly chosen Americans that he and his colleague Frank Sulloway carried out. [...] Religiosity is indeed negatively correlated with education (more highly educated people are less likely to be religious). Religiosity is also negatively correlated with interest in science."

I don't know where you got your statistics from, but the UK is a more secular society, with figures around 40% of those who believe and 60% who have no connections to religion (with the number of non-believers growing all the time).

I don't know why people dismiss evolution when there is much evidence to back it up. Its a lot more likely than a creator!

Answer 3

No, we aren't to believe that they are all unintelligent. But they are a by-product of centuries of religious rule and indoctrination. Look at the middle east, some of the most technical minded ppl live there, but if they didn't believe in gOD, they would be dead.

In the west, Atheism and belief in evolution is on the rise because we have secured our freedom to think independently. And if you have an education and you actually sit and think about it, it's easy to see where Atheism would steadily grow if enough people were left to make their own choices. And with religion bringing up all the old arguments in the past 2 decades and trying to bring religion to the fore front of Gov't and education, you've awaken the anti-religious ppl that would have normally been dormant and left you to live your lie in peace. You wouldn't having this conversation now if you had left us alone.

EDIT: For the female with the 150 IQ, I call BS on that. If you were that smart, we would all know your name and have your picture hanging on our walls. For the record, the IQ tests on the Internet are not valid. If you were that smart, you'd be answering questions in categories other than opinion based ones and your answers would contain more than half a badly punctuated sentence worth of information.

Answer 4

You do have to be pretty thick to accept uncritically the literal truth of religious texts like the bible, and to ignore the mountains of evidence against the reality of an anthropomorphic creator. Some people of intelligence are still happy to conceptualise a god of sorts, but that is not the same thing. The much vaunted 'many scientists' that people point out as being religious, tend to hold to a sophisticated type of Deism or Pantheism rather than crude Jehovah worship!

Answer 5

Yes and drinkers are more intelligent than non-drinkers. Despite obesity and all this bad lifestyle in America, peoples' lifespans are increasing.

Do not believe anything that isn't backed by independent studies, the world is full of charlatans.

Answer 6

those statistics like every other set of statistics only show that more than half those polled had the opinion that --most polls are a group of 1,000 out of 60,000,000.that means mathamatically there is a 1 in 60,000 chance they are right,or odds of 59,999 to 1 they are wrong.that is why`intelligent people don`t belive in a lot of things.they are intelligent

Answer 7

the statistics is wrong on the census most people put cof e but most do not go to church thay put cof e because thay have no choice on the form it thay can say no relgion then thay will get it right and it will say 90 percent do not believe in god

Answer 8

I think most people in the UK who believe in God were just brought up that way, brain-washed from the word go. Some break free and denounce it, others don't. There's no intelligent / unintelligent about it.

My parents took us to church when we were children but we never 'found Jesus'.

Answer 9

Believing in a higher power might be something close to reasonable but to reject evolution is ridiculous to the point of insanity. It is not a belief like 'Is there a God' it is a fact like 'Gravity holds me to the earth.'

Someone once said - 'Lets have an open mind - but not so open our brains fall out!'

Answer 10

As you say intelligence does not preclude the need for a phsychological crutch.The person should have said"a person,intelligent,logical and of strong personal character."