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

I call this “the Jesuit Barrier.”

Something happens to the human brain between 6 and 8 years of age. Certain pathways become almost concretized. That is, they will prove to be nearly impossible to change. These pathways include the admonitions to never doubt certain ideas, including one’s faith. To never allow the rest of the brain to influence the barriers created to avoid all thought that may challenge the paths of stone. This is reinforced by doctrines that explicitly requiring the person fto avoid associating with anyone who may, in any way, challenge the doctrine; It becomes a self-reinforcing barrier.

The next step is a doctrine that expressly advocates the destruction of anything and anyone that may challenge the doctrine. “God is great. And if you do not think so, then you are not worthy of life. And I have an obligation to see to it.” This should be a very self-defeating doctrine. The spread of islam appears to suggest the contrary.

As with islam, If the barrier is pervasively reinforced in a society, the society will cease to progress toward the well-being of its members as its energies will be expended in self-defenses which will turn inward to become rampant auto-immune disease. (Rush Limbaugh is an example.)

Science is an instinct. Science is observation, hypothesis, testing, and repetition. It is demonstrated by children through the natural learning tools we call the arts.

Religion is the result of the exploration of the world using these innate tools by primitive man.
We seek truths to build upon. We seek to explain, and name, what we experience. Even labeling something as “unknown” is an explanation.

Such exploration can help to ameliorate the damage done by orthodoxy. But, for many there is only the compromise of conscious reinforcement of unconscious compartmentalization.

This link is to an article by a christian who is refuting Dawkins exploration of the idea of the evil of childhood indoctrination by religionists. Obviously an educated person defending his own indoctrination as being reasonable.

[sntjohnny.com]

No. Critical thinking leads to atheism. Anyone can learn to think critically.

No, but I think being more educated, skeptical and inquisitive does.

I think it makes it more probable, but there are so many different types of intelligences. Emotional, mathematic, artistic, interpersonal, leadership, booksmart kind of intelligence....etc.

Not necessarily, there is a difference between intelligence and wisdom.

Intelligence is simply the ability to gather and apply appropriate knowledge in a critical and practical way.
If you have no knowledge, or inaccurate knowledge or decide not to gain certain knowledge for the sake of an abnegation of responsibility and a peaceful life you can be very intelligent and still an utter fool.
This is how you can have a brilliant author and physician who writes intelligent and wonderful detective stories, and yet in real life thinks fairies live at the bottom his garden and that his wife can talk to dead people.
(Arthur Conan Doyle in case anyone did not get the reference)

There is a tendency to be more intelligent, especially if you are one of the de-converted from religion. You have to be able to think outside the box so to speak if you grew up in a religious family. It's not guaranteed that you are intelligent just because you are atheist nor does it mean the you are stupid because you are religious. People can live with cognitive dissonance.

Animals are supposed to be less intelligent than us. Do they have religion? I doubt it. So, does that mean they are actually more intelligent?

Not exactly.

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

I believe there is a direct correlation. Only approx. 7% of all scientists are believers. So the evidence, though circumstantial, and therefore must be viewed as a clue rather than a proof, does seem to be pointing in that direction.

Intelligence leads to the realisatiom that there is no omnipotent off-planet rewarding and punishing Father God.
It also leads to the recognition that there is a creative consciousness which is the source and cause of the existence of all manifest things, evidently including us. And therefore gets keen seekers to search for what "that" might be .....

Not really... I've heard people discuss how much more deep-rooted religion can be for an intelligent person, as they have a greater ability to rationalise and compartmentalise their beliefs. And from what I can see that's true — I know several friends/family members who are very intelligent but also entrenched in Christianity.

It probably comes more from well-applied skepticism — as LP said below — and a willingness to use critical thinking and challenge one's own world view. Hell, I still do that even after a lifetime of non-belief... I'm hugely into religious apologetics. There may yet be a strong argument in there that will force me to re-evaluate my position so I like to go looking for it. Not found it yet, mind; and they've had a couple of thousand years' head start.

Nah, I think that's painting with too broad a brush. There are people who are quite intelligent who believe in God or gods, though I think it's a blind spot for many. Although I think intelligence does help in shucking religion, it's by no means a forgone conclusion. I'll put it this way: There are myriad areas of intellect, so let's change one word in the question for another example. "Does intelligence lead to astrophysics?" For some, it certainly does. For others, absolutely not. Someone might be a brilliant wordsmith or psychologist or mechanical engineer, but that doesn't mean they have an aptitude for astrophysics, higher mathematics, etc. I think that's true for atheism, too, often relying on logic and an evidence-based rationale, with the added complication of breaking free of tradition, emotional attachment to faith, community pressure, family expectations, etc. It's an uphill battle for many people, and often not one they're effectively equipped to fight.

I work with a lot of PhD Scientists and Chemists who are hardcore Xians and Mormons. It has to do with family upbringing and unwillingness to break away from tradition and the comfort of social groups.

Most scientists are atheist or agnostic. People with higher level of education tend to be liberal. Just sayin...

Yes ofcourse cause everyone else is so dumb to follow the bullshit religion and godly stuff

Not necessarily ... But reflection does.

If you are a seeker, you'll be most interested in metahistory.org, the work of John Lamb Lash and his "Not in HIS Image". Cheers !

Perhaps one has to differentiate between being a believer in something divine and just belonging to a religious congregation, perhaps in the way that someone has a nationality without having any patriotic feeling. Giordano Bruno, Gregor Mendel and Georges Lemaitre are prominent examples of people who were professionally religious without being mentally incapacitated by their religious mandate.

not at all

yes

Nope. Look at the least intelligent atheists and they all think they're smarter than every theist solely based on their beliefs. They have no understanding that indoctrination can hit any of us.

Could you further define intelligence? It's a bit broad as a term.

I have a super smart friend who is somehow a young earth presuppositional Calvinist. Blows my mind, but he is convinced the rest of us are blinded to the truth.

Sometimes.