Religious people are less intelligent than atheists, study finds

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

People associate religion with the "religeous people" they know or see in their everyday lives. Maybe they have a family member who goes to church, maybe they had to go when they were kids and remember some of those people, or maybe they drive by a church on Sunday and see the people going inside.
Well what if those churches they are going to aren't really religious? What if what they are doing there isn't real Christianity? But a pseudo Christianity?

I've checked out a couple and they quoted scripture about planting a seed to get a tenfold harvest and went into a ponzi scheme like sales pitch about how Gods going to love me if I donate more cash to their church...that's nonsense. What we seem to have now is a rewritten Christianity from whoever has edited the bible without the exercises to go along with it, and the church leaders are more concerned with extracting money from the congregation and influencing them politically and socially.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say whatever christianity was, it was at its spiritual peak during the time of Jesus and has been getting distorted and deteriorating ever since into what we see nowadays. The closest thing we will find to original Christianity would be the orthodox church and that looks so different than the Christianity in north America that it doesn't even seem like the same religion at all.

You couldn't be more wrong.

First off, there was no "Christianity" during the time of Jesus. It really didn't take shape as a major religion until the second century and his legend grew and the church of the time molded that image to what they wanted.

Second, who are you to say what is "real" Christianity and what isn't? The Bible is a vague book that can be interpreted in any way you would like, that's what there's over 30,000 sects of Christianity on the planet and they all disagree with each other.

Some take the Bible literally, some don't. Some hold certain commandments higher than others...

That's the problem with religion and the Holy books that dictate them. They are vague, they speak in generalizations and anyone can interpret them the way they want to benefit the specific cause they are dealing with.

During the Civil rights, both Civil rights activists were quoting the Bible against racism, and the people they were fighting against were quoting the Bible FOR racism and segregation.....LOL

Both were right in the context of which they were reading the scriptures.

[squealpiggy]

Not to mention the fact that in seven different states (Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) atheists are still banned from holding public office.

At first I made the "I don't believe you" comment about the fact that our friend here cannot be that smart if they believe that the United States is "atheist lead". Now I'm thinking about it, what sort of insurance company gives IQ tests to see what sort of coverage the applicants are eligible for?

I'm skeptical.

Some of the most brilliant minds ever where religious people.

It wasn't all that long ago that being nonreligious was in fact criminal in most Western jurisdictions. In fact atheism as recently as the 1950s could result in you being labeled a seditious communist sympathiser and placed on an official blacklist. And as Bringer and I both point out it is still a barrier to things like public officer in many parts of the United States.

People associate religion with the "religeous people" they know or see in their everyday lives. Maybe they have a family member who goes to church, maybe they had to go when they were kids and remember some of those people, or maybe they drive by a church on Sunday and see the people going inside.
Well what if those churches they are going to aren't really religious? What if what they are doing there isn't real Christianity? But a pseudo Christianity?

I've checked out a couple and they quoted scripture about planting a seed to get a tenfold harvest and went into a ponzi scheme like sales pitch about how Gods going to love me if I donate more cash to their church...that's nonsense. What we seem to have now is a rewritten Christianity from whoever has edited the bible without the exercises to go along with it, and the church leaders are more concerned with extracting money from the congregation and influencing them politically and socially.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say whatever christianity was, it was at its spiritual peak during the time of Jesus and has been getting distorted and deteriorating ever since into what we see nowadays. The closest thing we will find to original Christianity would be the orthodox church and that looks so different than the Christianity in north America that it doesn't even seem like the same religion at all.

Christianity was a rabid and feverish millennial death cult right up until the Council of Nicaea at which time the Roman Emperor Constantine made it the official doctrine of the Holy Roman Empire. The Nicaean Council created the New Testament by rejecting texts that were hostile to the Romans. What you term "christianity" was at the purported time of Christ one of a multitude of Jewish apocalyptic orders.

I think that looking for a pure form of christianity is a wild goose chase.

[Kris Silver]

Is this actually somewhat credible this time?

I'm fairly sure I remember something like this being posted before and it got either fairly dis-credited or exposed as a wind-up.

Or am I thinking of the April fool's joke that IE users are thicker then those of other browsers.

[Glen Smith]

I think that looking for a pure form of christianity is a wild goose chase.

I agree...it is a wild goose chase. But it's a wild goose chase I am willing to put time and energy into because it's more meaningful to me than going to the club, mall, sporting events, tourist attractions and other stuff with my spare time. It's not for everybody but for some people it can be a beneficial search with positive rewards for the seeker and the people around him/her. Another thing is slowly you keep finding a few more pieces to the overall puzzle and it starts to take shape and suddenly you start to see strange customs and ways of life that are fascinating, frightening, and sometimes stimulate you at your absolute core.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

It wasn't all that long ago that being nonreligious was in fact criminal in most Western jurisdictions. In fact atheism as recently as the 1950s could result in you being labeled a seditious communist sympathiser and placed on an official blacklist. And as Bringer and I both point out it is still a barrier to things like public officer in many parts of the United States.

Yes but that has nothing to do with the point I was making. Believing in God has no bearing on how smart you are. I understand that there are contributing factors but because there was a time where everyone believed in a god, that didn't stop from brilliant minds from inventing, creating and discovering the most important things in our history.

[squealpiggy]

Is this actually somewhat credible this time?

I'm fairly sure I remember something like this being posted before and it got either fairly dis-credited or exposed as a wind-up.

Or am I thinking of the April fool's joke that IE users are thicker then those of other browsers.

It's part of an increasing body of literature that supports the fact that nonreligious people tend on average to be more intelligent than religious people. That's not to say that religious people are stupid, or that you could make a generalisation about somebody you meat based upon their faith or lack thereof. It is a general trend.

Now I don't think that atheism is a cause of greater intelligence, or even necessarily a consequence of greater intelligence. More likely is that somebody who is intelligent is more likely to critically examine the things they have been told while growing up and reach their own conclusions.

I agree...it is a wild goose chase. But it's a wild goose chase I am willing to put time and energy into because it's more meaningful to me than going to the club, mall, sporting events, tourist attractions and other stuff with my spare time.

This is one of the most pretentious things I've ever read. I know more about your religion than you will ever do and this is in spite of having an active social life in which I go to clubs (not any more really because I have kids which takes up most of my time) and malls and sporting events and tourist attractions. Your transparent attempt at proving your superiority to people who devote time to things you consider petty and frivolous has failed to convince me of its worthiness.

Yes but that has nothing to do with the point I was making. Believing in God has no bearing on how smart you are.

Correlation is not causation but clearly there is correlation between intelligence and unbelief.

I understand that there are contributing factors but because there was a time where everyone believed in a god, that didn't stop from brilliant minds from inventing, creating and discovering the most important things in our history.

And generally speaking the more religious you were, the more likely you were to oppose and decry such discoveries.

[DARKSEID]

People who generalize or judge based on any stereotype automatically lack wisdom: something which can't be measured by any test and is infinitely more valuable than knowledge alone.

Knowledge without understanding is worth less than nothing.

To judge someone based on their beliefs which nobody can prove is ****ing ******ed TBH. Nobody can prove God exists, and nobody can prove he doesn't exist. Nobody who has died has ever returned to tell their tale.

Anyone who looks down on anyone and creates hate or disparity because of what they choose to believe is the one lacking intelligence.

[wazaa.]

"A team led by Miron Zuckerman..."

I stopped reading after that.

[DARKSEID]

Condescension and condemnation are the true enemies of knowledge. Peace and tolerance are its friends. If you fight or hate someone because of what they are, then you become a roadblock to what they could be, and every individual affects the whole.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

Condescension and condemnation are the true enemies of knowledge. Peace and tolerance are its friends. If you fight or hate someone because of what they are, then you become a roadblock to what they could be, and every individual affects the whole.

So then you are a man of science and against religion. Because that's what you just described.