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Are atheists in general, more intelligent than religious people?

I have yet to meet a dumb atheist. We all seem to know more about science, english, history, politics, and religion. I do know some smart Xtians. We all, (most of us) use a college graduate's English level vocabulary. I've read a study/article about testing religious people in subjects, then doing the same testing with atheists. Who do you think were the intelligent ones to prove the study to be correct? Some of us did start out religious as well. I seemed to have smartened up since I became an atheist. I have put my common sense to good use. I tend to think more logically now. I take what I learned in high school and college and apply that knowledge to my every day life. Are we smarter than the average Joe Xtians?

Sarahroo29 8 Jan 30
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7

People with a greater tendency for critical thought are more likely to question what they've been taught to believe - so intelligent people are less likely to be religious than unintelligent people.

Jnei Level 8 Jan 30, 2018
7

I liked that article , ??

@TheMiddleWay Thank you for that!

@TheMiddleWay I just read in a book that one psychologist took a control group of about 20 normal people and gave them diagnosis of severe disorders. He put them in a mental hospital and told them to act normal. Every single note by the staff reflected observations conducive to the written diagnosis without exception.

5

I know some very smart people who are not atheists...which has always puzzled me. I chalk it up to natural exposure to a religious childhood.

Me too! It's a conundrum I cannot understand. Exceedingly bright people, professionals, nurses, attorneys...but they believe in God and a couple think there's an alien cover-up or only date people who have a compatable 'sign'.

I think that they get a lot of hep from their church connections in order to obtain the qualifications and job opportunities which make them look 'smart' to us, but when you look closer they're not really very smart... Also they are very good at doing what they're told, but maybe not so good at original thought

4

I think I'm probably smarter than over half the population, but my special skill is seeing through bullshit.

wow, that's a good skill!

3

I believe anyone who questions things and follows their curiosity is more intelligent than the rest of the flock.

3

Well considering it takes intelligence to realize the difference between fantasy and reality, yes atheists are generally more intelligent.

3

Well, of course they are. And agnostics are more intelligent than atheists, of course. ????

That is untrue. Where is your evidence to back up your claim?

Well, obviously, you can’t know God. Therefore, to insist it doesn’t exist is fallacious. That’s an atheistic position. Agnostic acknowledge the impossibility of proof. @Sarahroo29

Hey @Gatovicolo, as Bertrand Russell pointed out, if you are going to be agnostic you can't just talk about one God, the one that you grew up with, usually the Christian God, you also have to be agnostic about all the thousands of other gods humans have created. Remember that the impossibility of proof you referred to also applies to Apollo, and all other Gods. As Russell said, in reality, agnostics are atheists about all the gods they don't know or care about, but choose to be agnostic about the one they do. That's why just about always agnostics refer to God in the singular, incorrectly. So when you're throwing around words like "fallacious" you might like to think about the consistency, or indeed lack of it, of the agnostic position. Ok? @Sarahroo29

What makes you think I’m not agnostic about them as well. They’re just marginally more credible. @David1955

Not really@WizardBill

I’m not misusing the terms. @WizardBill
A person who disbelieves in the existence of God but can’t prove has an untenable position. “God doesn’t exist!” is an indefensible position.
There are many definitions of both terms and you can cherry pick as you want, but the essential element for atheism involves a disbelief in God.
But that’s besides the point. You apparently don’t have a sense of humor. That’s what this was all about in the first place.

@Gatovicolo I find your kind of upperty agnosticism less than pleasant. Not all agnostics are like that, but they are around. It is characterised by throwing terms at atheists like untenable and fallacious, after making claims about atheism that are not true, like saying we say "God doesn't exist" instead of what we do say "there is no evidence for the existence of any God". Falsely trying to take the higher ground. There will be no further need for any exchanges between us on this. (@WizardBill)

Uppity? Well hell David, I guess I just don’t know my place. Do I? Should I just say “Yes masser “? You’re something else. Consider yourself placed on ignore. @David1955

@Gatovicolo It wasn't meant like that, which I think you know, but if it offends you then I withdraw it. We'll keep out each other's way. It's easy to do here.

“I find your kind of upperty agnosticism”? Your words, not mine. @David1955

3

I would like to think so, but I'm not a scientist to verify that.

2

People are stubborn in their beliefs.
After the Avengers had thwarted Loki. a few of them had a chat.
Captain American says, "I have met 2 gods, and I am still a Christian"
Iron Man says, "I have met 2 gods , and I am still an atheist"
The Hulk says, "I have met 2 gods, and I beat the crap out of both of them!"

2

I would agree with that in part because atheist do their homework. They are willing to bend the normal, traditional way we see the world around us. They reach a conclusion and attempt to explain this to someone who has NOT read a science book since they left school.

EMC2 Level 8 Jan 31, 2018
2

. Most believers and religious people were indoctrinated and brainwashed into a belief system and did not come to this conclusion on their own. If they were raised from birth as atheists they would still be atheist .Issac Newton ,Copernicus,William Kelvin,Michael Faraday ,Descartes and many more scientists and mathematicians were religious and believed in a god.

2

yes, we actually choose to use our grey matter. we are neither sheep or sheepdogs but wolves.

2

Evidence supports yes. In general.

2

It seems to me that highly intelligent people are more likely to be atheists or agnostics than people of average intelligence. I guess I base that on people I've known personally, as well as from observations and impressions of many different people over the course of my life. On the othere hand, I don't consider most of the Christians I've known to be stupid. But it seems that on the average, atheists and non-theists are more likely to be smarter., and more likely to be free-thinkers.

2

Statistically speaking the higher I.Q a person has the less likely they are to believe in "GOD". Now people with "genius" level I.Q are more likely to be agnostics.

2

It certainly seems that way sometimes, but sweeping generalizations are something I like to steer clear of.
I'd like to know what the control was in that study and how many different groups they tested against each other.
Come up with some hard numbers and graph it out to see what it looks like

2

I know I am brilliant. You can ask me.

I thought I was wrong about something once but it turned out later I was mistaken. So there.

1

Good question, I read somewhere Atheists tend to have a higher level of education than the average Christian and yet there are many of us, myself included that only went as far as high school. I am smart enough to know educational level doesn't necessarily equate intelligence level though overall it is a good indicator.

I did some college. I would love to finish. We would be considered "well educated," but not, "highly educated." I want to be highly educated.

I got an associate's and two full degrees but I don't claim to be intelligent.

A person has to be humble, realise they might be wrong about anything or everything, and be subject to the data to have any chance of ever working anything out.

1

A very strange and biased question. Implying that religious people are less intelligent than those of us who are Atheist.

They did research on the topic and said on average this was the case. The studies do not exclude the highly intelligent amonf the Christians because they do exist.

I think the real question should be " are atheist less gullible than Christians"

1

I think we are smarter, most xtians don't even know what they think they believe in. One guy I talked to thought original sin was murder.

1

I remember thinking things even most adults don't think about..before I could even talk well.

My mom would tell me something religious..like to never put anything on the Bible, as that's wrong, and I'd see the hesitation in her eyes, and think to myself that she was just saying that because she'd been taught it, but wasn't sure, herself.

I read the Bible for myself since I was five, even taking it under the covers, with my flashlight, at night. I remembered the Jesus character from my past life memories, and my sister also remembered a past life. I was excited to find him in the Bible, since I missed him.

I have no idea if my memories were real, but I could clearly "see" Jesus in my mind, and later on, when I saw paintings done by autistic kids who claimed to have had visions of Jesus, I recognized him, although the other so-called pictures of Jesus were "wrong."

Once I quit believing in the church, I also ditched belief in everything else, but have no explanation for my clear past life memories, or multiple lives. I even looked up the details of some of the more recent ones, and the details I remembered about the incidents were accurate.

So now I'm someone who has suspended some disbelief but still rejects Christianity in general.

1

Here is a good article from the Pew Research Center.
The answer is nuanced and not necessarily what you expect.

[pewforum.org]

1

or, are religious people less intelligent because they believe in fairy stories?

Willfully ignorant?

1

I think there are lots of intelligent people who are in religion. Also think a lot of them are lazy. Just accept what they tell you at the door of the church, all will be good. As a atheist, just question everything, and look for truth, and that takes a lot more work. And look at a variety of sources.

0

I have yet to meet more than 2 or 3 smart atheists per year after 5 years/15k hrs of debating atheists on Fb, Twitter & Reddit. I'd like to write up my findings regarding the consistent trends of atheists being just as irrational/defensive/willfully ignorant as the theists they oppose.

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