Is there a correlation between atheism and intelligence?

[Logisch]

A lot of studies suggest a correlation between higher education/IQ and atheism, or, at least, people tend to be less religious or non religious. What are your thoughts on this?

I don't think it necessarily is just because a person doesn't believe in a god, but the way those people approach lines of thinking, approach claims, etc. Rather, I think the reason is that people who lack belief in a god or gods, or fairy tales or magical creatures, these sorts of things, tend to be less likely to fall prey to the line of wishful thinking. Those same people are probably more likely to read into things and do research than most people, and more likely to learn something.

People who are willing to accept reality for what it is, accept new ways of thinking, willing to question things and not take everything that is said to them as factual are less likely to put up with that stuff and be more willing to actually learn stuff. So I think overall, I can see how that correlation could coincide with intelligence.

I think more importantly is it is likely those people may embrace skepticism and willing to dig for information and do the research and learn something from the process.

But people who will take the shit on a spoon that is fed to them and are told it's cumin flavored pudding are going to go through their life thinking they've been eating cumin flavored pudding their whole life until they put the spoon down and decide to go down to the corner market and find out that's not the only thing to eat. That's pretty much how I see the spoon fed BS called religion anyway. "Yes my son, it's totally cumin flavored pudding and not shit I pulled out of my ass. It is the only food you need, and the only thing to taste. Everything else will poison you."

[GrandizerII]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...-of-brain/

The results showed significantly greater hippocampal atrophy in individuals reporting ... no religious affiliation ...

This being in America, I can see why.

[Angrboda]

Since religiosity is strongly linked to poverty, I suspect any link between intelligence and religiosity will likely be mediated by that variable.

[BlackMason]

Is there a correlation between a-fairy-ism and intelligence?

[Angrboda]

The study also noted that factors such as affluence, gender and educational experience did not seem to have any impact with regards to the correlation of one's intelligence and religious belief, which also led to skepticism of the review given the historical and cultural impact has on a person's religious beliefs and practice.

http://global.christianpost.com/news/stu...xz3cKfk.99

Related questions. Is there a link between intelligence and critical thinking? Between intelligence and skepticism? Between critical thinking and atheism?

[ManMachine]

A lot of studies suggest a correlation between higher education/IQ and atheism, or, at least, people tend to be less religious or non religious. What are your thoughts on this?

That kind of depends on the atheist. Some people use atheism to piss their parents off and some as an excuse for anti-social attitudes.

Neither require much thought or intelligence.

MM

[Jenny A]

I'd really love, and I do mean love, to say that people are religious because they are stupid. But I think that's much too simple. I think it has to do with what part of our thinking is most prominent. I think people who are highly religious have very associative brains and not particularly logical ones. In some cases they may have both very logical brains and very associative ones, but the associative part is leading.

Kary Banks Mullis, a Nobel prize winning chemist, believes in UFOs and astrology, but not HIV or climate change. It's really hard to call the man anything other than brilliant. But he believes many really stupid things.

Religion and belief in god is all about making associative connections, without paying too much attention to the possibility of false positives.

Thus, I prayed very hard and my daughter was the only one who survived the plane crash. That other people prayed for their loved ones who died is ignored. Logic corrects that. Association does not.

But there are great leaps in science that require highly associative brains. Darwin's theory of evolution probably took that kind of associative leap.

So I think we are talking about different kinds of intelligence.

However, people who do not realize that god cannot be proved in a logical way, well that's really stupid. That's not only having an associative brain, but not recognizing logic when it laid out in front of you.

[GrandizerII]

Since religiosity is strongly linked to poverty, I suspect any link between intelligence and religiosity will likely be mediated by that variable.

The article mentions stress playing a role as well. I was thinking maybe in America, atheists tend to experience relatively more stress than atheists in other developed world countries.

[Bucky Ball]

I actually know some extremely intelligent people who are religious. It may have more to do with (an amazing) capacity for compartmentalizing cognitive dissonances. (At least in the examples I am acquainted with). They are well aware of the objections, and how valid they are. They are able to dismiss them somehow.

[MindForgedManacle]

To answer the OP: No.