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I suspect that if somehow or other, all religion was vanquished from the planet, most of the formerly religious would wind up being equally stupid about something else.
I love it. I don't have time to look but there have been a number of what appear to be legitimate studies from major universities (Harvard, Stanford, Cornell), analysing the relationship between intelligence and religious conservatism. There is one, an inverse relationship, though it's probably extremely ill mannered to bring it up. Setting aside the small percentage of exceptions, when one factor (like intelligence) goes up, the other factor (religiousness) goes down. Alternatively, the less intelligence, the more religion comes to the fore.
This makes sense psychologically because if a person has intellectual deficits, they are aware of it at some level, if only subconsciously. So religion with all its reassurances, fills in the gaps and offers some degree of comfort.
I love it. I don't have time to look but there have been a number of what appear to be legitimate studies from major universities (Harvard, Stanford, Cornell), analysing the relationship between intelligence and religious conservatism. There is one, an inverse relationship, though it's probably extremely ill mannered to bring it up. Setting aside the small percentage of exceptions, when one factor (like intelligence) goes up, the other factor (religiousness) goes down. Alternatively, the less intelligence, the more religion comes to the fore.
Yeah. I've seen some of those studies. Atheism favorably correlates to both education levels and high IQ's. Fundamentalism correlates to low education and low IQ's. One would be tempted to join with the atheists simply on the grounds of the better credentials if nothing else. With which group do you wish to identify?
Of course the response to such is usually something dismal..."I don't need no pointy headed innalecshul tellin' me I don't know what I know in my heart."
Yeah. I've seen some of those studies. Atheism favorably correlates to both education levels and high IQ's. Fundamentalism correlates to low education and low IQ's. One would be tempted to join with the atheists simply on the grounds of the better credentials if nothing else. With which group do you wish to identify?
Of course the response to such is usually something dismal..."I don't need no pointy headed innalecshul tellin' me I don't know what I know in my heart."
Yeah. And it's really sad when it's people that you love and they treat you like it's wrong, and an affront to them, if you're intelligent. Like there's something wrong with you. This happens to a lot of children, little boys and girls who need direction, and just want to be loved, and what they get, instead, is bullying, violence and abuse.
Yeah. I've seen some of those studies. Atheism favorably correlates to both education levels and high IQ's. Fundamentalism correlates to low education and low IQ's. One would be tempted to join with the atheists simply on the grounds of the better credentials if nothing else. With which group do you wish to identify?
Of course the response to such is usually something dismal..."I don't need no pointy headed innalecshul tellin' me I don't know what I know in my heart."
I think that what's TRULY interesting is that though there is the oft-cited correlation, it's usually in the realm of 0.25...if you square that you have the variance explained which is well under 10%. So, what explains the other 90% of religiosity BESIDES intelligence?
Perhaps we can get beyond intelligence - it's just much too easy to use that to bash folks when it's not even the main contributor to religiosity.
I think that what's TRULY interesting is that though there is the oft-cited correlation, it's usually in the realm of 0.25...if you square that you have the variance explained which is well under 10%. So, what explains the other 90% of religiosity BESIDES intelligence?
Perhaps we can get beyond intelligence - it's just much too easy to use that to bash folks when it's not even the main contributor to religiosity.
I've seen some unbelievably dumb conspiracy theory posts during this pandemic matched only by the previous flavour of the month theory that the earth is flat.
I'm not sure what it is that makes some people automatically believe anything except the actual truth.
I'd be interested to know the correlation between conspiracy theorism and theism.
I've noticed this weird thing with the conspiracy theorists. They call everyone else sheeple yet they will also bust your balls for fact-checking.
@Grandstander: FWIW, I found my blog post that addressed this, along with some of the studies:
Quote:
"Conservative syndrome" might explain why religious people tend to be of lower intelligence
Many studies have reported a negative correlation between religiousness and intelligence. Now, a new study suggests that social conservatism may explain the link, acting like a glue between the two. https://www.zmescience.com/science/p...elief-0432432/
I think that what's TRULY interesting is that though there is the oft-cited correlation, it's usually in the realm of 0.25...if you square that you have the variance explained which is well under 10%. So, what explains the other 90% of religiosity BESIDES intelligence?
Perhaps we can get beyond intelligence - it's just much too easy to use that to bash folks when it's not even the main contributor to religiosity.
I think that the urge to believe is at the root of it. And there are plenty of intelligent believers. Now just why some people find belief more compelling than thinking, I don't know. I'm inclined to think that realizing that the universe is a scary and literally inhuman place is a more important factor than intelligence per se.
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