I have to admit, that yes, my opinion does drop.
I view it as what it is, a prejudice. After being raised in the South, I also have a prejudice against Southern accents, in both cases my idea of the person's estimated IQ instantly drops.
But like any prejudice, if we can acknowledge that it's there, that's the first step to moving past it. I realize that upon learning a person believes in god my opinion of their general intelligence drops, so I try to remind myself that I shouldn't dock them presumed IQ points and give them the benefit of the doubt. I do the same when someone starts speaking with a Southern accent, because I have met some very intelligent people with heavy Southern accents. In my personal experience, I have met some very intelligent believers too, but they tend to have holes in their intelligence/logic surrounding their belief systems. I try not to form hard opinions about people until getting to know them better, but I am human and I've been burned more than a few times, so I'm not always good at it.
I view it as what it is, a prejudice. After being raised in the South, I also have a prejudice against Southern accents, in both cases my idea of the person's estimated IQ instantly drops.
But like any prejudice, if we can acknowledge that it's there, that's the first step to moving past it. I realize that upon learning a person believes in god my opinion of their general intelligence drops, so I try to remind myself that I shouldn't dock them presumed IQ points and give them the benefit of the doubt. I do the same when someone starts speaking with a Southern accent, because I have met some very intelligent people with heavy Southern accents. In my personal experience, I have met some very intelligent believers too, but they tend to have holes in their intelligence/logic surrounding their belief systems. I try not to form hard opinions about people until getting to know them better, but I am human and I've been burned more than a few times, so I'm not always good at it.
