In one word indoctrination. The Jesuits use an expression.............”.Give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man”. This could apply to all religions. If children’s minds were never interfered with, how many people do you think would choose to believe in God? A few probably, but I would wager not too many with any degree of intelligence. The application of critical thought sometimes does lead to more intelligent people losing their faith and I would say that is how many on this site came to reject the teachings of their childhood.

All the time. I am constantly perplexed by how people I know (who I know are reasonably intelligent, college-educated, professionals), could possibly have fallen for the bullshit that is religion? How can they believe that there is only one god and it cares about them?
Where the hell does that "disconnect" occur?

I think there can be much confusion caused by a poor understanding of the difference between intellect and emotional security. A person who is emotionally secure is a sort of person who can question the existence of God and accept that God does not actually exist. A person of great intellect can I have a good understanding of the science of the universe and still be emotionally insecure and need a God figure to cope. Atheism does not necessarily imply that a person is smart or stupid any more than an emotionally secure person might be understanding of the laws of physics.

I wonder the same thing. Just my own opinion, but I think believers are a tad feeble minded. But at the same time, I do know that a small percentage of the usa's leading scientists are believers so there is that. The majority, though, are agnostic or atheist. I tend to agree with Richard Dawkins that "the more you know, the less you believe".

I know a great many intelligent people who believe in god, and I think it's because they compartmentalize. They separate all that biblical, faith-based dogma from their intellectual selves and never bring it out for examination. They walk into a church like it's a place for receiving, not reflection, but they'll walk into a college lecture hall ready to do battle. I don't understand it because I prefer to think and examine everything, but maybe it's a little like the powerful executive who enjoys being submissive in a D/s relationship? Religion lets them turn it all off and be submissive.

Politics has made me realize just how common it is for two people to look at the same thing and see somthing completely different, really drives it home.

I suspect it almost always starts in childhood and just becomes what they call "faith"... that thing you just cannot reason with. The person cannot think any differently. For those with whom it starts in their adult years, I seems it's usually triggered by some calamity where the new-found faith is a crutch and an insurance policy... just in case. People can be "really smart" about many things, but still make a huge exception for their "faith" simply because it's safer than taking a chance and being wrong. And there's something soothing about the notion of "forgiveness" and a better next world. And it's just more socially acceptable to be some sort of a believer. How many atheist politicians do we know of?

Cognitive dissonance. They believe (and I have to include myself in that group, formerly) what their eyes tell them isn't so. (Mark Twain had a better quote but I can't recall it at the moment.)

A couple off the top of my head:

1. Childhood indoctrination
2. Social/Cultural - wanting to belong to the Mormon clan, the Jewish clan, etc.

New research (ICE) that indicates brain structure changes as a result of home/community environment. To the point of DNA changes.

“Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.”
― Aristotle, The Philosophy of Aristotle

Smart is a kind of loaded term. To most people that word means you are competent at something. It does not imply you are good at reasoning, nor does it imply you have had a good education. Most people I consider "smart" are people that will eventually become Athiest or Agnostic, this is a process though as you have to essentially invalidate axioms that you were given. It's not easy, and some people never do, but the more curious you are and able you are of holding and understanding different concepts, the more likely you are to loose "faith" in the standard view of religion. Most cases where this does not happen, I feel, is a lack of examination of the religion in question.

I would have thought it's a combination of what you're brought up to believe and nothing happens to challenge it, there's almost a subconscious disconnect between god and reality, but I think the majority of people just don't scrutinise and question it because they don't need to.

"Religion makes smart people dumb" is my motto. The brainwashing starts at an early age and later in life they find it hard to break free. I truly don't get it myself since there are so many signs that prove this stuff was made up, like there is nothing mentioned about dinosaurs, plus the many natural disasters of old which are explained as acts of god, chariots of fire (meteorites). They must conform to their beliefs or go to hell and they believe it. They're prisoners to their own belief system as are so friggin many others.

We've been taught that belief in a god transcends intelligence, that god is a given so use your intelligence for other endeavors. Also, it's not socially acceptable be seen as anything other than a believer. As foe me, there may or may not be a god, but that is irrelevant. I'm on Earth for a certain number of years and then I'm gone. Nothing else matters. When an intelligent person turns his/her attention their existence, issues may become clearer.

Actually there have been many professional studies on the issue, and the results have been consistent...

The more intelligent a person is, the less likely they are to be a theist...

[journals.sagepub.com]

A similar relationship has been show regarding educational levels, and financial/material status.

They might be smart depending on how they describe god.

I just ruminated this hypothetical example: Intelligent people who live within in-tact moderate religious social constructs can maintain them if they have no reason to examine those religious constructs. Their intellect can be applied to lots of practical, secular activities without ever wandering into the philosophical,spiritual domain. If their social support system disintegrates due to tragedy, betrayal, apathy, etc, then they will have the opportunity to examine what the function of those constructs were and become agnostic about philosophical/spiritual things.

If the religious social constructs they subscribe to are extreme then they can’t be intelligent.

I think one of the oddest was the author Graham Greene. He came from an Anglican-agnostic background but converted to Catholicism at Cambridge in the 1930s. When his contemporaries like Philby, Burgess, McLean and Blunt were embracing Communism.
Often described as the best English writer never to win the Nobel prize. He never was unquestioning of his faith or the absurdities of Catholicism. It was the mystery that drew him in.
Novels like "The power and the glory" and "Heart of the matter". Pushed the boundaries of faith to the limits and often brought him into conflict with the Vatican. He did throw light on a subject that many of us would dismiss.

If someone is afraid it doesn't matter how smart they are they're going to believe what they need to believe in order to get through life

How can you believe in a non existent person , that would be believing fairy tales are facts or bigfoot is real !! Or I believe Trump is the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz !!

Intelligence and faith are two disparate things. There are very intelligent believers and very low intelligence non believers (and everything in between). A lot has do with how you were raised, how you view the world, and how desperately you need have sense made out of a non sensible world (much like how children look to adults to help make sense of their confusing world).

Intelligence is vas concept, I am intelligent in my field of art as a wealthy man is intelligent in business.

If we were measuring in IQs. Atheist and other groups have a higher IQ than Christains. If we're measuring in emotions, christains would have a Monopoly. An EIQ would be moving closer to an balance intelligence.

Since 90℅ of biological scientist are non believers and I am a bio -organism first, not based on myth. It is better to take a realistic path. Rather than a blind faith, lost in space.

I think it’s not so much a matter of smart/stupid. It is about indoctrination from birth. It is not coincidence that kids take on the religion of their parents. Of course some will be the sort that ultimately make a different choice down the road. It comes down to whether or not you are the sort of person that demands hard evidence as in God appears on a cloud and the whole world sees it. Which, of course, is not necessarily proof that that being was the creator of all. Soft evidence as in look around you at the beauty of the world and that proves God exists. Some, myself included, would call that no evidence.
Lastly, are those that just believe because they feel it’s true. We are certainly living in the era of this belief. If you look at the number of things people now believe, not only with no evidence, but with actual hard evidence that the opposite is a fact. All the hot button issues of the day seem to fall under this category, from climate change to vaccines, people believe what they “feel”is true rather that what the facts show.
Happy times! ?

and it's human nature to want a comforting explanation for life, that everything is under control and all will be OK..

It's a notion that has confounded me for the longest time.. I don't claim to be super intelligent..but am curious as to the how & why highly intelligent people don't dismiss the existence of god out of hand...

Of course I realise and speculate that most do..but it is difficult to account for the rest..perhaps they hide in the long grass..to avoid ridicule or career barriers etc. ?