correlation between intelligence and atheism

[Edwardo Piet]

So much for my theory!  *flicks over king and storms out*

Lol are you suggesting that Stephen Fry=Automatic checkmate?

Oh, I see your point. Lol.

[Natachan]

Some weak correlation, yes. It's more strongly correlated to education. There are likely other factors that link it. Natural inquisitiveness, skepticism, empiricism.

[Vincent]

Someone being an atheist doesn't make them smarter. Someone being a theist doesn't make them dumber. 

I think that people focus their intelligence and critical thinking on certain fields. For example, someone might have been raised a Muslim, and they might keep those traditions and beliefs and not put too much thought into them. And that individual might end up a physicist, or a surgeon, or a scientist at NASA. And they're still Muslim. That person is not stupid. They probably just don't put the same level of scrutiny and questioning into their religion as they do into the other things. And maybe they did, but they simply were content to settle for an argument from ignorance, or a desire to be part of something bigger, to justify those beliefs and remain comfortable. That doesn't necessarily make an individual more or less intelligent. 

However, I think there is a trend that people who are atheists tend to have some level of higher education. I read somewhere that upward of 40% of atheists have a college degree. That's not including the ones that might be studying in college.