Non-Theists More Intelligent than Theists?

A study of studies shows that Non-Believers are, in general, more intelligent than Believers. In the study, intelligence is not defined in terms of education but in terms of IQ and “the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn experience.” The study studied 63 other studies starting with a 1928 study (which followed the lives of 1,500 gifted children) through a 2012 study.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/proved-atheists-more-intelligent-religious-people-250727

http://www.charismanews.com/us/40669-study-suggests-atheists-smarter-than-christians

http://rt.com/news/atheists-more-intelligent-religious-433/

ptatohed said:

A study of studies shows that Non-Believers are, in general, more intelligent than Believers. In the study, intelligence is not defined in terms of education but in terms of IQ and “the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn experience.” The study studied 63 other studies starting with a 1928 study (which followed the lives of 1,500 gifted children) through a 2012 study.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/proved-atheists-more-intelligent-religious-people-250727

http://www.charismanews.com/us/40669-study-suggests-atheists-smarter-than-christians

http://rt.com/news/atheists-more-intelligent-religious-433/

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I have to wonder how many of the gifted children in 1928 were atheists...

I think I'll head over to the poop thread now.

https://www.facebook.com/WFLAtheism?fref=ts

I don't think it's fair, what with the Bible Belt being in the south.

Over zealous Christians and athiests are equally annoying..... Their mommies must have not loved them enough as children...

^Agreed. My beliefs are mine and mine alone. I don't try to convert anybody and I'm not in the market to be converted.

We want diversity in all things except thought and ideas. It's so much easier to just call somebody you disagree with an idiot rather than actually have any curiosity as to what they believe or why they behave the way they do.

Road Guy said:

Over zealous Christians and athiests are equally annoying..... Their mommies must have not loved them enough as children...

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This. Zealots are annoying, no matter what they are peddling. I don't care what you are or what you believe in as long as you don't try to push it on me.

Cause the smart people have everything figured out, right?

I'm still scratching my head of the "study of studies" part... maybe I don't get it because I believe in God though.

Lumber Jim said:

Cause the smart people have everything figured out, right?

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Not really. Here's a better definition:

Atheism: lack of belief in the ism.

My big issue is that it's correlating being "smart" with an IQ.

There are so many other aspects that play into "intelligence" than a numerical value derived from standardized tests - self awareness, situational awareness, communication ability, creativity, etc., that differences in IQ become essentially moot as you stray from the outliers.

It's also extremely difficult to understand what defined the "levels" of religion that were examined. Or for that matter, what constitutes "religious"?

1. Subject A has a strong belief in God and stern religious convictions based on their own beliefs in what is right and wrong. Perhaps subject A has a genuine belief in the afterlife and a grand figure who controls all, yet belongs to no organized religion.

2. Subject B has a strong belief in God and stern religious convictions as defined by a given organized religion. Perhaps subject B has been conditioned to follow these beliefs based on survival instinct. Religion, especially organized religion, offers compassion, strength in numbers, power (historically speaking), etc. Subject B fears the prospect of no afterlife, or of a Hell.

How do these two subjects stack up? Is Subject A more or less inclined than Subject B to be intelligent? Where doe the environmental factors play in? Is someone who chooses a religion later in life less intelligent than someone who was "raised" to be religious from birth? Where to the Agnostics come into play? Is an Agnostic who proclaims "there's probably nothing there" more apt to be "intelligent" than one who proclaims "there's probably something there"?

I think you'd have to first examine the correlation between other variables, e.g. optimists vs. pessimists, fanatics (at either end) vs. total neutrality, etc., before drawing any conclusions from these types of studies.

Here is a good example- my oldest son if he graduated today he would be 12th in his class but he asked me how to make a sandwich for his band camp today? He is smart as hell but does lack some common sense (like his momma)

In dumb as a rock but have a fair share of street smarts.... Lol...

Supe said:

...I think you'd have to first examine the correlation between other variables, e.g. optimists vs. pessimists, fanatics (at either end) vs. total neutrality, etc., before drawing any conclusions from these types of studies.

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Or call the whole discussion f'n stupid. (says the hillbilly redneck P.E.)

First of all, I didn't post this to offend anyone so please excuse me if I did. I heard about the study on the radio, looked it up, and just thought I'd share it here to 'shoot the breeze'.

engineergurl said:

ptatohed said:

A study of studies shows that Non-Believers are, in general, more intelligent than Believers. In the study, intelligence is not defined in terms of education but in terms of IQ and “the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn experience.” The study studied 63 other studies starting with a 1928 study (which followed the lives of 1,500 gifted children) through a 2012 study.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/proved-atheists-more-intelligent-religious-people-250727

http://www.charismanews.com/us/40669-study-suggests-atheists-smarter-than-christians

http://rt.com/news/atheists-more-intelligent-religious-433/

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I have to wonder how many of the gifted children in 1928 were atheists...

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I was thinking that too. There were not too many out-of-the-closet atheists in the early 1900s I would think.

Dexman PE PMP said:

https://www.facebook.com/WFLAtheism?fref=ts

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I wasn't trying to start an argument!

csb said:

I don't think it's fair, what with the Bible Belt being in the south.

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What is not fair?

Dexman PE PMP said:

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lol. They say that the Achilles' Heal of Christianity is the argument that atheists often use when they point out that if a loving all-powerful god did exist, why does he allow suffering/pain/disease? That question is posed all the time, right? But I never saw that as a valid argument for atheism. If you read the bible, it's incredibly evident that the god of the Old and New Testaments (especially the OT) has every intention to impose suffering on innocent people. How many times in the bible does god threaten the suffering of future generations? It's right there in Chapt 1 Genesis! Break the second commandment? You just screwed your kids, grandkids, great grandkids, and great-great grandkids. So, in my point of view, suffering is completely consistent with the god of the bible.

Supe said:

My big issue is that it's correlating being "smart" with an IQ.

There are so many other aspects that play into "intelligence" than a numerical value derived from standardized tests - self awareness, situational awareness, communication ability, creativity, etc., that differences in IQ become essentially moot as you stray from the outliers.

It's also extremely difficult to understand what defined the "levels" of religion that were examined. Or for that matter, what constitutes "religious"?

1. Subject A has a strong belief in God and stern religious convictions based on their own beliefs in what is right and wrong. Perhaps subject A has a genuine belief in the afterlife and a grand figure who controls all, yet belongs to no organized religion.

2. Subject B has a strong belief in God and stern religious convictions as defined by a given organized religion. Perhaps subject B has been conditioned to follow these beliefs based on survival instinct. Religion, especially organized religion, offers compassion, strength in numbers, power (historically speaking), etc. Subject B fears the prospect of no afterlife, or of a Hell.

How do these two subjects stack up? Is Subject A more or less inclined than Subject B to be intelligent? Where doe the environmental factors play in? Is someone who chooses a religion later in life less intelligent than someone who was "raised" to be religious from birth? Where to the Agnostics come into play? Is an Agnostic who proclaims "there's probably nothing there" more apt to be "intelligent" than one who proclaims "there's probably something there"?

I think you'd have to first examine the correlation between other variables, e.g. optimists vs. pessimists, fanatics (at either end) vs. total neutrality, etc., before drawing any conclusions from these types of studies.

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In my first post and in the articles I linked, it defines what the study is calling intelligence, and it is not only IQ. You ask good questions but you might be analyzing it too deeply. I think the study simply found a general negative relationship between intelligence and religious belief: it concluded that, in general, the more intelligent a person is, the less likely they are to be religious. It's not saying someone is dumb if they believe in god. And, you're right, there are limitations to the study. One of the articles points out that the study only takes into account analytical intelligence, not creative and emotional intelligence. And that the primary religion studied was Protestantism, not others. And the study did not really cover cultures other than our Western culture.