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Meta-study: atheists are smarter than religious people
- Thread starter AuthenticM
- Start date
BoosterDuck
Banned
FAKE NEWS
Smutpeddler
Member
Well, obviously. Good to have research to point it out though.
Karsticles
Member
I'm an atheist, and I just don't think this is true. Many of history's noteworthy intellects were religious. Isaac Newton was way smarter than me. Charles Darwin was studying to be a pastor when he came up with the theory of evolution. A Catholic Priest came up with the Big Bang Theory.
I feel it's important to note that what they measured was religiosity, not whether people are religious or not.
So on a spectrum from religious to not religious vs. whether they identify or not. Yes, this is important for interpretation, as there are many different ways of measuring religious beliefs (i.e. dogmatism would be something different entirely).
So on a spectrum from religious to not religious vs. whether they identify or not. Yes, this is important for interpretation, as there are many different ways of measuring religious beliefs (i.e. dogmatism would be something different entirely).
DarknessTear
Banned
What about agnostic? Are you more dumb if you think "we just don't know" or smarter because you're more flexible to the possibility that we just... don't know?!
uncelestial
Member
Gentle reminder that euphoria/fedora memes are played af
lvl99 Pixel
Member
Would be interesting to see how the statistics would differ if religion were not forced on young children and was a choice to be made as an educated adult.
ModernBoxes
Banned
Isaac Newton was a nut. He was insanely intelligent though. Think about the era of the people you're describing before saying scientist X from over 100 years ago was religious therefore...
That would not register as going beyond the religious instinct described in the paper.
Insanity or at least mental instability is often linked with intelligence as well.
Intheflorsh
Banned
Let's shut down this line of discussion early for once. Agnosticism and atheism are not mutually exclusive positions to take.
I guess it's instinctual to believe that there is a higher presence than yourself to qualify moral decisions that you make and to absolve you of any wrong doings to not feel so guilt ridden, and also to comfort yourself with life beyond death, and to believe that something must have created us all. The fact there's so many religions speaks volumes to religion indeed being instinctual, well, at least spirituality.
Yes.
Just like schizophrenia is your brain working overtime to make too many correlations and conclusions.
They didn't exactly live during a time where it was socially acceptable to be an atheist though. And intelligence is a spectrum, so it's not unreasonable that even among "intelligent" people, there would be more intelligent people and less intelligent people when looking at an average person.
BetterThanNothing
Member
Just a reminder for atheist internet people:
Even if it's true that atheists were more intelligent than religious people on average, it doesn't mean you are one of those who fall into the above average category
I TIP MY HAT TO YOU SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR
ModernBoxes
Banned
Right, so someone like Newton was not without his blemishes and we tend to remember his genius not his flaws which could have been the result of his genius. Also, time period.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
I think a willingness to ignore deductive evidence and instead rely on "gut feeling" is part of what makes religious people prone to ignorance. They tend to adhere to that dedication to gut feelings, despite there actually being scientific and history-backed reasons for why things are the way they are.
I mean, look at Relgious people rejecting climate SCIENCE, because they don't think mankind would be allowed to damage the Earth.
I mean, look at Relgious people rejecting climate SCIENCE, because they don't think mankind would be allowed to damage the Earth.
Mango Positive
Member
Since no one can know for sure whether or not a god exists, everyone is an agnostic and the term is moot.
I am an atheist and I think we have got to be very careful of taking these studies at face value. Especially because you can't put the concept of intelligence into a single number. It is a complicated subject matter where there are various dimensions of intelligence, and the concept of intelligence is often times fraught with biases when it comes to race, sex, and class.
toddhunter
Member
Just a reminder for atheist internet people:
Even if it's true that atheists were more intelligent than religious people on average, it doesn't mean you are one of those who fall into the above average category
It also doesn't mean you should stir up religious people. Dumb or not they are controlling America right now and all the nuclear weapons.
Billy_Pilgrim
Member
Newton spent a great deal of his time trying to turn lead into gold and was an occultist. Not really your classic religious type.
Agnostic pertains to knowledge, not belief. Many people misuse the term to be some kind of third option, but it's not. You are an agnostic atheist, an agnostic theist or you claim to know for a fact.
Team Filler
Member
Shocking that people who believe they'll be saved when they die by a magic sky-man would more often than not be fuck-stupid.
You're talking about people who lived 100-500 years ago. Being a believer in an age where less was discovered is quite a bit different than being one now.
Which is why as few at 5-15% of 'elite' scientists identify as religious.
Permanently A
Junior Member
Most likely not any current ones due to their highly specialized canons, but many religions developed independently across many different parts of the world across many different eras of human history without direct interaction; so it is a very effective explanation.
We were doing well
Dongs Macabre
aka Daedalos42
Pineapple on pizza is the only higher power I believe in.
This seems self evident.
Most people in the world are brought up to be religious, to the extent that some level of religiousness is basically the default childhood state. If you figure that there is some intelligence cut-off under which people are unlikely to question what they were taught as children, it would follow that most of those rejecting their childhood religion for some form of atheism/agnosticism (or even just a decrease in religious faith) would be above said threshold.
I guess it would depend on the studies making up the meta-studies though, including the level of intersectionality.
However, you would probably find the same result with people who switch religions from the one they were raised with.
Most people in the world are brought up to be religious, to the extent that some level of religiousness is basically the default childhood state. If you figure that there is some intelligence cut-off under which people are unlikely to question what they were taught as children, it would follow that most of those rejecting their childhood religion for some form of atheism/agnosticism (or even just a decrease in religious faith) would be above said threshold.
I guess it would depend on the studies making up the meta-studies though, including the level of intersectionality.
However, you would probably find the same result with people who switch religions from the one they were raised with.
Someone's sensitive
I bet you thought this was clever.
Vicetrailia
Member
Meh, I'm a dumbass who couldn't possibly believe in god.
Permanently A
Junior Member
No its pretty fucking stupid
An important distinction for sure
I would expect more people to be talking about their classification as religion as an instinct, but as usual no one read the OP or the article.
This is the equivalent of "u mad?" after a shit post.
This is the equivalent of "u mad?" after a shit post.
LowlySmokeGuy
Banned
What if I'm neither? Also, what do the researchers believe? Bias could be playing a part in this study. Seems unreliable.