Intelligence and Religion

Insert http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence into your browser and some interesting information can be found linking religiosity and intelligence. Here is an excert with my comments inserted in blue italics.


In 2008, intelligence researcher Helmuth Nyborg examined whether IQ relates to denomination and income, using representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, which includes intelligence tests on a representative selection of American youth, where they have also replied to questions about religious belief. His results, published in the scientific journal Intelligence demonstrated that on average, Atheists scored 1.95 IQ points higher than Agnostics, 3.82 points higher than Liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than Dogmatic persuasions. [4] "I'm not saying that believing in God makes you dumber. My hypothesis is that people with a low intelligence are more easily drawn toward religions, which give answers that are certain, while people with a high intelligence are more skeptical," says the professor. [5]


Or, put another way, believing in a god doesn't make one dumber. In order to believe in a supernatural sky daddy it helps to be dumb to begin with.


Nyborg also co-authored a study with Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, which compared religious belief and average national IQs in 137 countries. [6] The study analysed the issue from several viewpoints. Firstly, using data from a U.S. study of 6,825 adolescents, the authors found that atheists scored 6 g-IQ points higher than those adhering to a religion.
Secondly, the authors investigated the link between religiosity and intelligence on a country level. Among the sample of 137 countries, only 23 (17%) had more than 20% of atheists, which constituted “virtually all the higher IQ countries.” The authors reported a correlation of 0.60 between atheism rates and level of intelligence, which is “highly statistically significant.”
Commenting on the study in The Daily Telegraph, Lynn said "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."


Now that the argument has been made that IQ and belief in the supernatural has something to do with lack of intelligence, I will easily destroy that argument.


I will posit that belief in a supernatural entity is not lack of intelligence but the result of having the belief inculcated in ones brain at an early age and then relentlessly reinforcing it day after day and week after week until the child becomes an adult. Here are just a few examples of why religion and intelligence are unrelated.


Mitt Romney, former govenor of Massachsetts, Harry Reid, senate majority leader, Orrin Hatch, former leader, and Jon Huntsman, Jr. former governer of Utah and presently U.S. ambassador to China who speaks Mandarin fluently. These men are not dumb. Yet they believe that the founder of their religion, Joseph Smith, actually talked to an angel "Moroni" who told him where to dig up a book made of gold, inscribed in a "lost" language which he was able to transcribe into the Book of Mormon using some magic "reading stones" which were conveniently buried with the book.




Studies of Mormons in the US also display a high positive correlation between education levels and religiosity. Survey research indicated that 41% of Mormons with only elementary school education attend church regularly. By contrast, 76% of Mormon college graduates attend church regularly and 78% of Mormons who went beyond their college degrees to do graduate study attend church regularly.[16] Again, the researchers do not equate this educational level with intelligence. This study did not control for age or track apostasy over time.