For example, the most famous atheist scientists, eg: Charles Darwin (135), Richard Feynman (130), Francis Crick (119) etc..., had much lower IQs than the most famous theist scientists, eg: Isaac Newton (190), Albert Einstein (160), Michael Faraday (170) etc.
Is it, perhaps, because the brains of devoted atheist scientists are not able to see beyond the scientific details and perceive the larger philosophical picture of life and the universe and the "God" that caused them?
2007-09-12 12:00:58 · 8 answers · asked by Mike 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I'd like to see more statistics on this one.
It does make me wonder If I, with an IQ of 130 (despite my avatar ;-) and being Agnostic, could be smarter if I became religious.
I guess... we'll not have an answer on this one soon since we scientifically only know 1-2% of what's happening in our brains.
By the way, when does one become religious and... how are IQ's before that ?
Let's investigate some whizz-toddlers in university or convert religious proffesors to atheism to find out what happens :-)
2007-09-12 12:27:33 · answer #1 · answered by Bart D 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Why do you keep asking the same question and answering it in the same question? Why do you feel the need to post your beliefs in the form of a rhetorical question.? Obviously your IQ is not very high. Where are you getting these numbers? An important flaw with your propaganda is that Darwin, Newton, and Faraday were all DEAD before 1905 when the VERY FIRST IQ test was developed, so unless you found a way to go back in time with a copy of the test then you made all this up. I could just as easily say that Aristotle's IQ was 290.
The thing that bothers me most about this is that I am a Christian and you are reinforcing the stereotype of the crazy Christian who just makes up stuff and claims it as scientific evidence then tries to claim that it is proof of God. Why are you so insecure in your religion that you must defame great scientist simply because they did not believe as you do? Do you truly believe that Jesus would approve of this behavior?
2007-09-12 12:24:13 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
First of all Albert Einstein was not a theist he was a secular humanist. Richard Feynman was an agnostic, not the same thing as an atheist. I seriously doubt that Isaac Newton had a IQ of 190 and how could one know. Besides once the IQ is above it all becomes about equal there is no way to get a straight number. So your question is really mute, because the theist scientists really did not have higher IQs than the atheist scientists.
2007-09-12 12:12:55 · answer #3 · answered by dpgoronzy500 2 · 9⤊ 2⤋
No, it's because theists are much more prone to fantasy thinking and lack any intellectual integrity (cf. the Intelligent Design movement), so they do things like make up statistics for the sole purpose of defaming and demonizing atheists and atheism.
So tell me, who administered these IQ tests? It's interesting that the whole notion of an IQ test wasn't even invented until 1905, long after many of these people had died.
What questions were asked? How were they interpreted? By whom? Were cultural backgrounds taken into consideration? How, if at all, were biases of the questioner accounted for? Were the results normalized in any way, and if so, to what baseline?
I'm sorry, am I asking too many questions, when I should be blindly accepting your "statistics?" Sorry for being such an "uppity" atheist (theists REALLY hate it when atheists don't know their place), but people of a scientific, rational mindset are prone to doing that.
By the way, Darwin was an ordained minister, and Einstein was a deist who believed in a naturalistic universe that god let run on its own without divine interference. And Newton was a very strong believer in alchemy when even many of his contemporaries thought it was pseudoscience.
2007-09-12 12:23:20 · answer #4 · answered by R[̲̅ə̲̅٨̲̅٥̲̅٦̲̅]ution 7 · 5⤊ 2⤋
Since over half of the scientists you mention lived well before Stanford and Binet developed their IQ test, I seriously doubt your question has any basis. Your question is guilty of fallacy of complex question (like, have you stopped cheating the government?): you assume an alleged fact not in evidence and then ask why it's so. You've got hasty generalization going as well, since given many thousands of scientists past and present, the sample you mention is too small to be statistically significant.
Philosophy teaches us that most people, not just atheists and theists, habitually do not see beyond the framework provided by their most cherished beliefs. As Bertrand Russell put it, if the only tool you've got is a hammer you tend to treat everything as if it's a nail.
2007-09-12 12:22:09 · answer #5 · answered by Philo 7 · 9⤊ 1⤋
How interesting you claim Newton's IQ was 190, 178 years before the IQ test was developed. Was it because he also believed in Astrology and dabbled in Alchemy and the Occult. I guess this reposting of your question further shows your ignorance.
2007-09-12 23:29:26 · answer #6 · answered by Its not me Its u 7 · 4⤊ 2⤋
its kind of funny, but Charles Darwin would have been a Christian minister if he hadn't gone on that wonderful voyage on the Beagle. could it have anything to do with improved IQ testing in later years?
2007-09-12 12:30:57 · answer #7 · answered by deva 6 · 1⤊ 4⤋
You have your 'facts' all wrong.
2007-09-12 12:30:39 · answer #8 · answered by shmux 6 · 4⤊ 3⤋