Religious Folks Struggle the Most...

[Common Sense]

You could make that argument, but it would not be a valid one. Religious faith is not contingent upon having or not having a certain level of intelligence. Faith and intelligence are two totally different animals. You can be as dumb as a bucket of hammers and be a devout adherent to your religious beliefs or you you could be stump stupid and have zero faith. The opposite is also true. You will find people of faith with IQs off the scale sitting right next to an atheist who is his intellectual equal. To try to conflate faith or a lack of faith with intellect is absurd.

I didn’t say it was a certainty. I said there could be an argument made.

There are definitely dullards on both sides. And didn’t mean to paint with a broad brush.

But….statistically speaking, the more educated someone is, the less likely they are to be religious. While there are many intelligent people who believe in the supernatural, IQ tests and other measures of intelligence and education, demonstrate a correlation between intelligence and skepticism.

[Chris]

Not at all. Even the most obtuse liberal doesn’t claim the government is an all powerful entity controlling everything. Nor do they think the government is a source of salvation, and not believing results in eternal damnation. Maybe in a cartoonish stereotypical exaggeration of liberalism that doesn’t exist outside of your imagination, there is a valid comparison. But in reality, comparing the belief in a supernatural omnipotent and omnipresent deity, is nothing like supporting good government.

On the contrary, people, generally, do look to the government as the solution of all problems and to provide salvation here on earth.

I wasn't comparing. I think government is the only thing that fits your qualifications.

[Chris]

Well, an argument could be made that those who accept mythological stories and supernatural phenomenon, without actual evidence, could be considered less intelligent than those who require more proof than ‘just trust me’, or an old story from the Middle East, or feelings and faith.

I would certainly question the intellectual capacity of someone who believes in unicorns, leprechauns or other mythological beings with no actual evidence of their existence beyond simple belief.

I don't think that fits anyone but your caricature of others.

Anyway, like what'shisname, you merely restate the initial claim but provide no evidence to back it up.

[Chris]

You could make that argument, but it would not be a valid one. Religious faith is not contingent upon having or not having a certain level of intelligence. Faith and intelligence are two totally different animals. You can be as dumb as a bucket of hammers and be a devout adherent to your religious beliefs or you you could be stump stupid and have zero faith. The opposite is also true. You will find people of faith with IQs off the scale sitting right next to an atheist who is his intellectual equal. To try to conflate faith or a lack of faith with intellect is absurd.

True. But I think intelligence is harder to define and I'm not sure IQ is the only or even any measure.

[Chris]

I didn’t say it was a certainty. I said there could be an argument made.

There are definitely dullards on both sides. And didn’t mean to paint with a broad brush.

But….statistically speaking, the more educated someone is, the less likely they are to be religious. While there are many intelligent people who believe in the supernatural, IQ tests and other measures of intelligence and education, demonstrate a correlation between intelligence and skepticism.

statistically speaking, the more educated someone is, the less likely they are to be religious. While there are many intelligent people who believe in the supernatural, IQ tests and other measures of intelligence and education, demonstrate a correlation between intelligence and skepticism.

One, that's not exactly what some science claims. Two, even what science actually says is questionable.

[Cletus]

True. But I think intelligence is harder to define and I'm not sure IQ is the only or even any measure.

I used IQ just because it is a form of measurement with which most people are familiar. I agree with your point. I would also add having a college degree does not make you educated.

[Peter1469]

One reason is probably that non-religious folks are generally more intelligent and aware of reality.

Perhaps a lot of high IQ types are theists, but a lot of strap-hangers on the left side of the bell curve are too.

[jes'fuchinwitcha]

One, that's not exactly what some science claims. Two, even what science actually says is questionable.

Of course science is questionable, that’s a fundamental part of scientific method.

Religious belief in things is not to be questioned, however, because it all hinges on faith.

[Hoosier8]

A fact during WWII experienced by soldiers in Japanese internment camps. The ones that survived it all either had belief in family or religion to help them survive.

[LWW]

IQ is a measurement of one’s ability to learn through reasoning and problem solving.

It is not a measurement of what someone did, or did not, learn by exercising those abilities.