Who's a deeper thinker? The average atheist or the average Christian?

Question

No right or wrong answers here - just curious about your thoughts. Thanks.

Answer 1

I'd have to say probably the atheist. An atheist by defintion almost has looked at all sides of the issue. I rather believe Christians are conditioned against their thoughts straying to far from the faithful norm.

Answer 2

The "average" of both are at about the same level, I think. The average Christian does what he or she is told and the average Athiest is an Athiest simply because they hate religion or hate Christians or got into a fight with a religious person or whatever.

I'd have to say athiests who are athiests because they have examined the evidence and have come to that conclusion are extremely deep thinkers. Same for Christians who have come by their faith by the same process. These people continually examine and reform their beliefs. People in this catagory, regardless of the end result, are the deepest thinkers.

Answer 3

I would say if we are talking about average neither are because they are the average.

Atheists will say they are because they say Theists don't think they just believe. (misconception)

Theists will say they are because religion is about contemplating the deep and meaning full questions of life and you can't do that without God. (misconception)

Agnostics will say they are because they think so much they never come to a conclusion (misconception)

Being able to even think you can classify one group over another as deeper thinkers (misconception)

Simple fact there are non-thinkers, thinkers, and deep thinkers in all walks of life and all faiths (or lack thereof). If you average any group they would I am sure come out at about the same rate.

To lb above there are other studies from UCLA and The University of Chicago that contradict what the study you are citing says. It is very inconclusive.

Answer 4

Certainly atheists. The person considered most virtuous by the christian community is one who has completely turned his life over to the lord. This person has no need to think whatsoever. Every action is predetermined by what the priests say the bible says.

The atheist is burdened by constant thought. Everything must be experienced and processed in the context in which it occurs. We don't have the luxury of shrugging it off with a "let god's will be done."

I don't mean to be nasty, but religion is very nearly the opposite of deep thought. Christianity is mostly concerned with trying to figure out what some other entity thinks rather than trying to think for yourself. When you determine your own worth solely on what someone else thinks of you, does that not make you a horribly shallow thinker?

Answer 5

A deep thinker is anyone who thinks and questions everything. M, just because you're agnostic doesn't make you the deeper thinker. There are many people out there, believe it or not, who are religious who do question what they read in their great books. Atheists also question many things or else they wouldn't be where they are now.

Answer 6

Ones religious affiliation, or lack thereof, does not have any bearing on whether that person is very contemplative, or doesn’t bother to think too much. As with most labels, it’s hard to pigeonhole people. St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the most respected saints in Christianity, and a mammoth intellectual in both religious and secular circles, could definitely be deemed a deep thinker. The same goes for other pious men such as St. Augustine, or modern Christian apologists like Alister McGrath, Ravi Zacharias, or Richard Swinburne. Atheists, like David Hume, Baruch Spinoza, Percy Bysshe Shelle, and modern dissenters against religion such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris can all be rightfully called profoundly intellectual.

No side has a monopoly over intellectual profundity. Likewise no side can be broad brushed with the claim of being devoid of deep thinking or being superficial in their thought process. Just as both sides of the religious/secular spectrum have their great intellectuals, both sides also have their narrow, simpleminded dogmatic people as well.

The truth is the extent to which some people are greatly contemplative, or simply credulous, depends on how much they rely on emotion as opposed to reasoning. Though we, as secularists or atheists, might disagree with the reasons given by religious intellectuals for their faith, and as much as religious people might deny the cogency of atheistic refutations of Christian apologetics, no side if truly candid with themselve, can rightfully call the other side simple minded.

Answer 7

I think there's no connection between the two. I think the average atheist is just as average as the average Christian.

Answer 8

Frank Sulloway of MIT and Michael Shermer of California State University conducted a study which found in their polling sample of "credentialed" U.S. adults (12% had Ph.Ds and 62% were college graduates) 64% believed in God, and there was a correlation indicating that religious conviction diminished with education level.


For further information, see the research of Petty & Cacioppo into Elaboration Likelihood Model.


Shermer, Michael (1999). How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God. New York: William H Freeman, pp76–79. ISBN 071673561X

Answer 9

I think the Atheist. The Christians seem to think all the answers are provided in the Bible. While an Atheist has to search it out on his/her own. I do think that some Christians are very smart. But most Midwesterners are pretty close minded when it comes to many issues.

Answer 10

I would say average atheist.
An atheist is, by nature, a thoughtful and considering person. It's in our nature to be curious and to question.
I spend a lot of my time pondering the state of geopolitics, the US elections and the state of my own country.
I don't put everything down to "that social/religious group", I look for answers.

Answer 11

Even averages are based on a curve from results and how does a person measure "depth" of thoughts when thoughts themselves are abstract and not measurable?