Scientific studies: Religious people are less intelligent than atheists

@Jpsy,

What arguments would you prefer to see atheists present?

Quote:

Jpsy said: I have heard that a majority of scientists are atheists today. That does make sense, because the Christian mythology is just too ludicrous to actually believe literally (In my opinion)

Scientists have a burning desire to analayse, experiment and dissect etc so that everything can be neatly explained.
But religion can't be neatly explained and it therefore makes them feel uncomfortable so they go red in the face, pout, and throw tantrums at it (a classic example is Dawkins).
What a loss! It's almost as if Satan doesn't want them to apply their scientific analytical mind to probing and unlocking the Bible's secrets, so he poisons their minds against it so they won't touch it.
For example scientists say Christianity is a myth, thereby glossing over the fact that Jesus was seen by the entire population of Israel and the Roman garrison for 3 long years!
Fact is, Jesus was TOO BIG to be a myth, heck he was almost as big as Elvis.. Wink

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@Romeo Fabulini,

Quote:

Fact is, Jesus was TOO BIG to be a myth, heck he was almost as big as Elvis..Wink

And therefore ripe for attack. And the fact that Christians will not kill you or blow up your city helps.

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@rosborne979,

I have no problem with atheists presenting argument for why we should not believe in God and Christians trying to convince everyone that their religion is legitimate and credible, but I get kind of tired of it when it has nothing to do with the topic posted. This thread is about a study whose results demonstrated that on average Christians are less intelligent than Atheists. I have no problem with the conversations meandering and diverting, that is to be expected. I just get tired of every thread that has anything to do with religion at all immediately being turned into insults and arguments to discredit religion when it has nothing to do with the topic. Similarly, I get even more annoyed when I watch a video on YT on science, and fundamentalists try to work in God into the conversation. I guess I'm jaded and I've read a lot books on atheism for years so I've heard many of the arguments hundreds if not thousands of times. I guess it's still useful for people new to the atheism vs. monotheism debate.

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@rosborne979,

I guess my point was this topic was on a study and the first 12 or so comments had absolutely nothing to do with the topic. Just start another thread if you want to debate something different. I was kind of interested in hearing people's opinions on this topic and on this study.

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@Jpsy,

I guess most of us are jaded too. We've seen enough of these threads that we already know what they are going to degenerate into.

But I wouldn't mind a different take on the debate. Maybe if you want to challenge some aspect of the study or clarify some aspect, then we can talk about that.

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Anyway the link to the article in the first post is no longer there so we can't discuss it, there's just this message-
Edit (Moderator): Link removed

Wow, anybody know why it's been removed? Aren't we allowed to discuss the topic 'Religious people are less intelligent than atheists' any more?
For example how do they define "intelligence"? I know for a fact that most christians are far happier than most atheists.

1 Reply

@Romeo Fabulini,

Romeo Fabulini wrote:

I know for a fact that most christians are far happier than most atheists.

That's not true in my experience. Are you going by personal experience, or are you referencing a poll from somewhere? Just how many atheist friends do you have to reference for this observation?

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Romeo fabulist wrote:

I know for a fact that most christians are far happier than most atheists.

And you know it how? Any corroboration?

Here is the article cited:

Quote:

A new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades has concluded that religious people are less intelligent than non-believers.

A piece of University of Rochester analysis, led by Professor Miron Zuckerman, found “a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity” in 53 out of 63 studies.

According to the study entitled, 'The Relation Between Intelligence and Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis and Some Proposed Explanations', published in the 'Personality and Social Psychology Review', even during early years the more intelligent a child is the more likely it would be to turn away from religion.

In old age above average intelligence people are less likely to believe, the researchers also found.

One of the studies used in Zuckerman's paper was a life-long analysis of the beliefs of 1,500 gifted children with with IQs over 135.

The study began in 1921 and continues today. Even in extreme old age the subjects had much lower levels of religious belief than the average population.

The review, which is the first systematic meta-analysis of the 63 studies conducted in between 1928 and 2012, showed that of the 63 studies, 53 showed a negative correlation between intelligence and religiosity, while 10 showed a positive one.

Only two studies showed significant positive correlations and significant negative correlations were seen in a total of 35 studies.

The authors of the review looked at each study independently, taking into account the quality of data collection, the size of the sample and the analysis methods used.

The three psychologists carrying out the review defined intelligence as the “ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience”.

Religiosity is defined by the psychologists as involvement in some (or all) facets of religion.

According to the review, other factors - such as gender or education - did not make any difference to the correlation between intelligence and religious belief.

The level of belief, or otherwise, did however vary dependent upon age with the correlation found to be weakest among the pre-college population.

The paper concludes that: "Most extant explanations (of a negative relation) share one central theme —the premise that religious beliefs are irrational, not anchored in science, not testable and, therefore, unappealing to intelligent people who 'know better'."

Criticisms of the conclusions include that the paper only deals with a definition of analytic intelligence and fails to consider newly identified forms of creative and emotional intelligence.

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Quote:

Romeo said: I know for a fact that most christians are far happier than most atheists.
Timur said: And you know it how? Any corroboration?

Just look around and use your eyes and ears mate, and google around too!
Christians are happier, so that automatically makes them more intelligent.. Smile

CHRISTIANS HAPPIER THAN ATHEISTS- on Twitter
"The study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tapped Twitter as a research tool and compared the messages of Christians and atheists.
Two doctoral students in social psychology and an adviser analyzed the casual language of nearly 2 million tweets from more than 16,000 active users to come up with their findings, which were published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
The conclusion: believers are happier than their counterparts.
Researchers found that Christians tweet with higher frequency words reflecting positive emotions, social relationships and an intuitive style of thinking – the sort that’s gut-driven.
An analytical thinker (atheist) is more likely to be skeptical or critical..analytical thinking may "diminish the capacity for optimism and positive self-illusions that typify good mental health"

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/28/christians-happier-than-atheists-at-least-on-twitter/

Atheists themselves ADMIT they worry in their bus adverts.. Wink

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/atheistbus.gif

1 Reply

@Romeo Fabulini,

Relating to the topic of this thread and your own comments:

If christians are happier that atheists, it only proves that ignorance is bliss.

My own experience, which I admit is perhaps anecdotal , tells me otherwise.

In addition, it's not difficult to find data that disproves your stance:

The results also varied between country and religion. For example, spiritual participants from the U.K. were found to be more than three times more likely to be depressed than their secular counterparts.

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In the same article Timur provided, it says-
"Earlier this year, however, the U.S.-based National Center for Biotechnology Information released a study done at the University of Saskatchewan that found a 22 per cent lower risk of depression for monthly church attendees"

So like I said, we can simply look around with our own eyes and ears, and see that most atheists are jumpy, irritable and uptight, whereas most christians are kool, calm, fearless, goodnatured and unflappable.. Smile

"My Christian faith has been such a backbone through so many difficult times. For me Christianity is about being strengthened"- Bear Grylls

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/sub4/b-grrylls.gif

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Quote:

a 22 per cent lower risk of depression for monthly church attendees

Did you note that that figure was only for the US, which has a much higher church attendance that other Western countries?

Have you noted the explanation for that figure too?

Your assertion that christians are happier than atheists flies in the face of the available data.

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Kirk's double does a great atheist impression.. Wink

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/im-captain-kirk.gif

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@Romeo Fabulini,

How many atheists do you actually know?

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@timur,

I have heard that Christians are happier as well. It makes sense to me. If you honestly believed that when you die you will go to heaven, be reunited with your loved ones, and live in eternal happiness, I think anyone would be happier. It gives people a sense of purpose in life (serving God), and brings people together. My mom is very involved with the church, she has around 15 friends from the church that she gets together with. I think, even though most atheists deny it, there is a certain sense of nihilism that comes with atheism (I know I feel this regularly) So, it would make sense for most people that religion would make them happier. However, gay people who are told they are going to hell are not going to be happier. & of course just because it makes them feel good does not make it true. I would rather know the truth than be intoxicated with blissful ignorance.

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Quote:

Rosborne said: How many atheists do you actually know?

They're everywhere, just look around.. Wink

Real Christians (as opposed to the phoney ones) have mind-melded with Jesus and have become part-Jesus themselves just like he said-
"I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you" (John 14:20)
and they take on his personality traits.

However, atheists haven't got him inside them, therefore allowing all sorts of spiritual pollution to get in-
Jesus said- "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there."- (Matt 12:43-45)

and the victim takes on the nasty traits of whatever personal demons are in their heads, and we can hear them speaking through their victims mouths.

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The teaparty christians are angry enough to hurt somebody. I don't call that happy at all.

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@Romeo Fabulini,

Romeo Fabulini wrote:

Quote:
Rosborne said: How many atheists do you actually know?
They're everywhere, just look around..

Like I thought, you don't know any.

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@rosborne979,

Yes, I agree. I can't remember if it was Hitchens or Robert Price who said it, but it's ridiculous that the New Testament actually says at one point all of the dead in Jerusalem arouse and walked the street. So, if you take the bible literally, zombies began to walk the streets and there is no written record of it. The dead started walking the streets and the Romans, who were meticulous record keepers, never bothered to write it down. No one happened to mention it in letters dated to that time period. I just don't understand fundamentalists minds. I may start a topic on what exactly is going on in the believers mind to make them simply disregard the myriad of contradictions and absurdities in the bible & still say everything in the Bible is literally true. Many of these people are intelligent. It some type of flaw in the human mind.

1 Reply

Scientific studies: Religious people are less intelligent than atheists

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