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Clever People 'less Likely To Believe In God'

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- Decline in religion "linked to rise in intelligence"

- University academics the "most likely" not to believe

- Study portrays religion as "primitive"

PEOPLE with high IQs are less likely to believe in God, according to a new study.

A leading psychology professor at Ulster University said many more "intellectually elite" people in the UK, especially univeristy academics, identified themselves as atheists than the national average.

Prof Richard Lynn said a decline in religious beliefs over the last century was directly linked to a rise in average intelligence, the Telegraph reported.

The study, published in the academic journal Intelligence, has been called "simplistic" by critics.

A survey of Royal Society fellows, the independent academy of science in the UK, found that only 3.3 per cent believed in God - at a time when 68.5 per cent of the general UK population described themselves as believers.

A separate poll in the 90s found only seven per cent of members of the American National Academy of Sciences believed in God, the Telegraph reported.

Professor Lynn, who has provoked controversy in the past with linking intelligence to race and sex, said most primary school children believed in God, but as they entered adolescence - and their intelligence increased - many started to have doubts.

"Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ. Academics have higher IQs than the general population. Several Gallup poll studies of the general population have shown that those with higher IQs tend not to believe in God," he told Times Higher Education magazine.

He said religious belief had declined across 137 developed nations in the 20th century at the same time people became more intelligent.

Professor Gordon Lynch, director of the Centre for Religion and Contemporary Society at Birkbeck College, London, said the study failed to take account of a complex range of social, economic and historical factors.

"Linking religious belief and intelligence in this way could reflect a dangerous trend, developing a simplistic characterisation of religion as primitive, which - while we are trying to deal with very complex issues of religious and cultural pluralism - is perhaps not the most helpful response," he said.

Dr David Hardman, principal lecturer in learning development at London Metropolitan University, said: "It is very difficult to conduct true experiments that would explicate a causal relationship between IQ and religious belief.

"Nonetheless, there is evidence from other domains that higher levels of intelligence are associated with a greater ability - or perhaps willingness - to question and overturn strongly felt institutions."

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23859947-401,00.html

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I thought id post this article as it is quite interesting. Im a atheist, born from a long line of atheists (3 out of 4 of my grand parents didnt/dont believe in god and the other one did believe in god but no enough to ever go to church). It may be controversial but i believe that people who dont believe in god are smarter (or atleast less ignorant) and i also believe that religion has held back society for thousands of years. Imagine where the human race would be now if we didnt have the dark ages which held humanity back for nearly a 1000 years.

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Samrter people do not believe in these kind of articles. They are usually bull. The fact that this particular article supports your view does not make it any more worthy of consideration.

Sorry, but I think there are better arguments out there!

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Samrter people do not believe in these kind of articles. They are usually bull. The fact that this particular article supports your view does not make it any more worthy of consideration.

Sorry, but I think there are better arguments out there!

It is a ok article but i dont really like the person who did the study as from memory he has also said some rather racist things. I do however believe that the smartest people in our society (scientists, mathematicians ets) generally do not believe in god and that has to mean something.

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Scientists and mathematicians are more logically minded than the average people. Religion does not get along well with logic, as such, is only natural that most of them are either atheists or agnostics.

Having said that, you still have plenty of scientists that are/were religious: Newton and Einstein, to name the two most important physicists of all times were religious.

In fact, what I didn't like about the article is that you could easily replace the word "smarter" with "white" and obtain the same racist crap that was commonplace in the early XXth century. People should be more carfeul when making those studies or when publishing them.

Don't worry, I still consider you pretty smart for a bogan :lol:

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It is a ok article but i dont really like the person who did the study as from memory he has also said some rather racist things. I do however believe that the smartest people in our society (scientists, mathematicians ets) generally do not believe in god and that has to mean something.

Give them a bit longer, usually two minutes before they permanently run out of health. They'll believe then :P

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It is a ok article but i dont really like the person who did the study as from memory he has also said some rather racist things. I do however believe that the smartest people in our society (scientists, mathematicians ets) generally do not believe in god and that has to mean something.

I don't think is very smart not to believe in God.

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What's the saying? Something like:

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ;)

As for me. I was raised a Christian, but am now an Atheist. I have a high IQ (I know that sounds stuck up, but it's not meant to be) and my career choice sees me working with many extremely intelligent people. In my experience, the proportion of people that fervently believe in God appears to decrease as IQ increases. Having said that, I know a great deal of intelligent people that are devoutly religious. My sister is one of them.

Of course the reasons for all this, if this is in fact the case, is open to debate. Having been strongly on both sides of the religious debate, I'm a bit tired of all the arguments and rhetoric. I'll devote my energy to activities that might actually achieve something...

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Give them a bit longer, usually two minutes before they permanently run out of health. They'll believe then :P

3 out my 4 grand parents are already dead and i can tell you they died as atheists (well 2 of them atleast).

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I dunno, clever people can get stuff wrong too :lol:

Sometimes it takes a simple view to see the bigger picture.

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Scientists and mathematicians are more logically minded than the average people. Religion does not get along well with logic, as such, is only natural that most of them are either atheists or agnostics.

Yes but isn't that just a nicer way of saying what Lynn said? People whose beliefs don't "get on with logic" tend to be quite dumb surely. Plus it's not just scientists and mathematicians - he seems to be talking about a correlation between anyone's IQ and their religiosity.

Having said that, you still have plenty of scientists that are/were religious: Newton and Einstein, to name the two most important physicists of all times were religious.

I'm not anti-religious, as you know, but Newton lived a long time ago when the known facts were very different. Most 10 year olds know more about evolution than he did. :lol: And Einstein was technically an agnostic, although he did say he was religious in the poetic sense that he was in awe of the beauty of our existence and in his belief in moral values.

In fact, what I didn't like about the article is that you could easily replace the word "smarter" with "white" and obtain the same racist crap that was commonplace in the early XXth century. People should be more carfeul when making those studies or when publishing them.

And as I've said before, the fact that his ideas are not what we want to hear does not necessarily make them false. His research is peer-reviewed like everyone else's and much of his work has gotten into the most prestigious journals like Nature and Science, and his academic background is pretty strong. His co-authors on this paper are also prominent psychologists with similarly impressive credentials, and similarly controversial views of course. I think he (and they) should be taken seriously.

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The Coca-Cola Company recommends you use cleaning products to make your house shine and save the Coke for drinking.

Now I know why my house is so sticky!

HEY, DEAR, DEEEEEEEEAR...

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The Coca-Cola Company recommends you use cleaning products to make your house shine and save the Coke for drinking.

Now I know why my house is so sticky!

HEY, DEAR, DEEEEEEEEAR...

You know.... That guy does not believe in God. :whistling:

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The response to this article reminds me of the response that things like 'the majority of youth crime in the UK is caused by blacks' gets. It's factual. Let's have a sophisticated discussion as to why it is a fact.

The problem is that people see a discussion like this as threatening to their own beliefs. well, i'm not going to change from being an atheist and i don't think any religious people here want to stop believing in God.

Can we actually just discuss why the evidence of this article seems to be so?

Allow me to make a couple of generalisations;

I would hazard a guess that athesists are much more likely to be inquisitve and far less likely to accept the beliefs of their ancestors. By virtue of their inquisitive nature, they have a desire to be open to several notions. They will want evidence to support claims. They will be more likely to be dissatisfied and prone to unhapiness.

Religious people will accept the belief of thier chosen religion and follow the rules of that religion. There is no need to question it because to question it is to miss the point. The evidence of their God is in their belief of the existence of that God. They do not need physical proof in the way that an atheist needs scientific proof. They will be contented people, not as materialistic as atheists. Not as obsessed as atheists about success and money.

Atheists are deemed as more intelligent because they appear to have a wider ability for sophisticated thought. Religious people have exactly the same potential for those thought processes, just not the same desire to exercise them.

Just my take.

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I was baptised Roman Catholic, however I would say that I am not astutely religious.

The problem is religious people (especially catholic , christian) get very upset when you talk about religion and want you to have respect... however they usually do not show the same respect for people who are not " believers". Why is this so???

It seems that people who question things in the world / push the envelope in general have a tendency not to be as religious........ ????

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A religious man is on top of a roof during a great flood. A man comes by in a boat and says "get in, get in!" The religous man replies, " no I have faith in God, he will grant me a miracle."

Later the water is up to his waist and another boat comes by and the guy tells him to get in again. He responds that he has faith in god and god will give him a miracle. With the water at about chest high, another boat comes to rescue him, but he turns down the offer again cause "God will grant him a miracle."

With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and they tell him to get in, mumbling with the water in his mouth, he again turns down the request for help for the faith of God. He arrives at the gates of heaven with broken faith and says to Peter, I thought God would grand me a miracle and I have been let down." St. Peter chuckles and responds, "I don't know what you're complaining about, we sent you three boats and a helicopter."

:rolleyes:

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A religious man is on top of a roof during a great flood. A man comes by in a boat and says "get in, get in!" The religous man replies, " no I have faith in God, he will grant me a miracle."

Later the water is up to his waist and another boat comes by and the guy tells him to get in again. He responds that he has faith in god and god will give him a miracle. With the water at about chest high, another boat comes to rescue him, but he turns down the offer again cause "God will grant him a miracle."

With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and they tell him to get in, mumbling with the water in his mouth, he again turns down the request for help for the faith of God. He arrives at the gates of heaven with broken faith and says to Peter, I thought God would grand me a miracle and I have been let down." St. Peter chuckles and responds, "I don't know what you're complaining about, we sent you three boats and a helicopter."

:rolleyes:

:lol: brilliant.

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It is a ok article but i dont really like the person who did the study as from memory he has also said some rather racist things. I do however believe that the smartest people in our society (scientists, mathematicians ets) generally do not believe in god and that has to mean something.

Clever people don't support Coulthard.

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A religious man is on top of a roof during a great flood. A man comes by in a boat and says "get in, get in!" The religous man replies, " no I have faith in God, he will grant me a miracle."

Later the water is up to his waist and another boat comes by and the guy tells him to get in again. He responds that he has faith in god and god will give him a miracle. With the water at about chest high, another boat comes to rescue him, but he turns down the offer again cause "God will grant him a miracle."

With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and they tell him to get in, mumbling with the water in his mouth, he again turns down the request for help for the faith of God. He arrives at the gates of heaven with broken faith and says to Peter, I thought God would grand me a miracle and I have been let down." St. Peter chuckles and responds, "I don't know what you're complaining about, we sent you three boats and a helicopter."

:rolleyes:

:lol: Fantastico Alehop!

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I took a stupid online IQ test once. My IQ was around 135.

Now, to the God part. I have a fence up my a## right now about that. God almost, maybe found me a few nights ago. And at first I was like, wow, God exists. And then I thought about it and was like "God's just a crazy human emotion of worthlessness and helplessness, so you just say 'Aw, **** it, I'm in God's hands now! He'll save me!'"...and now I don't know.

There are a lot of things in life I can't explain. Those things aren't strong enough to convince me there is a God, but I really also have a hard time believing there isn't. But sometimes it really seems like God tries his damnedest to make me think He's real.

Anyway, I think this is all a load of crap. Who cares who believes in God? Let them have a relationship with God if they want to, I'm not gunna stop them, cuz I can't exactly say they're pyschos for believin in God, cuz, for all I know, these people could be leading lives with 1000 times the quality of mine. Or maybe not. I'd think it's damn hard to beat what I got now, but you know, I'm not gunna write something off til I try it.

Oh, and, hello again. My name's Eric. Have we met before? I think this is a new record: 2 days. ;)

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I took a stupid online IQ test once. My IQ was around 135.

Now, to the God part. I have a fence up my a## right now about that. God almost, maybe found me a few nights ago. And at first I was like, wow, God exists. And then I thought about it and was like "God's just a crazy human emotion of worthlessness and helplessness, so you just say 'Aw, **** it, I'm in God's hands now! He'll save me!'"...and now I don't know.

There are a lot of things in life I can't explain. Those things aren't strong enough to convince me there is a God, but I really also have a hard time believing there isn't. But sometimes it really seems like God tries his damnedest to make me think He's real.

Anyway, I think this is all a load of crap. Who cares who believes in God? Let them have a relationship with God if they want to, I'm not gunna stop them, cuz I can't exactly say they're pyschos for believin in God, cuz, for all I know, these people could be leading lives with 1000 times the quality of mine. Or maybe not. I'd think it's damn hard to beat what I got now, but you know, I'm not gunna write something off til I try it.

Oh, and, hello again. My name's Eric. Have we met before? I think this is a new record: 2 days. ;)

And he is back from the dead! Miracle! Testify, Brotha!

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And he is back from the dead! Miracle! Testify, Brotha!

I prayed to Batracer and It relieved me of my sins and brought me back to a glorious life devoted to the almighty "simulation" (because real life F1 is really that easy and random). Bow down to the master computer that makes sure you run 7th and then crash with 3 to go!

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