(If you don't fancy wading through endless quotes and web sources, just skip to the bottom. )
Intelligence is positively correlated with atheism. In other words, the smarter a person is, the less likely they are to believe in God:
However, there is another correlation which throws a spanner in this theory: high intelligence isn't always associated with rationality. In some cases it is actually associated with irrationality. Here are a few examples:
To cut a long post short...
If people who are highly intelligent or better educated are less likely to believe in God because they think rationally, why are they MORE likely to have other irrational beliefs than people who are less intelligent or have less education?
Intelligence is positively correlated with atheism. In other words, the smarter a person is, the less likely they are to believe in God:
"Out of 63 studies, 53 showed a negative correlation between intelligence and religiosity, while 10 showed a positive one. Significant negative correlations were seen in 35 studies, whereas only two studies showed significant positive correlations.
The three psychologists have defined intelligence as the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience. In short this is analytic intelligence, not the newly identified forms of creative and emotional intelligence, which are still subjects of dispute."
...
"Among the thousands of people involved in these studies, the authors found that gender or education made no difference to the correlation between religiosity and intelligence; however, age mattered. The negative correlation between religiosity and intelligence was found to be the weakest among the pre-college population."
...
"A 2009 study, led by Richard Lynn of the University of Ulster, compared religious beliefs and average national IQs of 137 countries. In their sample, only 23 countries had more than 20 percent atheists, which constituted, according to Lynn, "virtually all higher IQ countries."
One common reason for this is simply that people who are highly intelligent think more rationally than people of normal or lower intelligence.The three psychologists have defined intelligence as the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience. In short this is analytic intelligence, not the newly identified forms of creative and emotional intelligence, which are still subjects of dispute."
...
"Among the thousands of people involved in these studies, the authors found that gender or education made no difference to the correlation between religiosity and intelligence; however, age mattered. The negative correlation between religiosity and intelligence was found to be the weakest among the pre-college population."
...
"A 2009 study, led by Richard Lynn of the University of Ulster, compared religious beliefs and average national IQs of 137 countries. In their sample, only 23 countries had more than 20 percent atheists, which constituted, according to Lynn, "virtually all higher IQ countries."
(source: arstechnica.com)
However, there is another correlation which throws a spanner in this theory: high intelligence isn't always associated with rationality. In some cases it is actually associated with irrationality. Here are a few examples:
- Highly intelligent people are just as prone to congitive bias:
"In one study, subjects read about a controversial issue, such as whether or not people should be allowed to sell their own organs. Then, they wrote their thoughts about it. The researchers found the typical cognitive bias. People mostly wrote arguments favoring their own position. They did not tend to integrate arguments across different perspectives. The researchers also assessed intelligence. They found that people who scored more highly on the intelligence test showed just as much of the cognitive bias as the rest."
(source: globalcognition.org)
(source: globalcognition.org)
- Highly educated people are MORE likely to fall for investment scams:
"Many scam victims are pretty smart. Three studies in 2006 and 2007 of identified investment-fraud victims and randomly selected participantscarried out by the Finra foundation, WISE Senior Services of Los Angeles and AARP Washington Statefound that victims of investment fraud tend to be better educated than nonvictims, have higher incomes and have been investing for a decade or more. But they are so confident in their judgment that they fail to seek out professional or other opinions."
(source: WallStreet Journal [cached])
(source: WallStreet Journal [cached])
- Doctors in particular have a reputation for being bad investors:
"The analytical-test results of people like [the hypothetical] Dr. Heart indicate that he's close to genius level. So perhaps he doesn't need any advisers. Perhaps he thinks he's smarter than any adviser. So why spend time and money dealing with these people? When it comes to investing, some people do think they are, financially speaking, immortal. Being very, very intelligent may have some drawbacks. Most high-income people with average to above-average intellect realize they aren't brilliant, but the majority have great common or practical intelligence. They know their strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly. They never make major investment decisions without first seeking advice from skilled professionals."
(source: medicaleconomics.moderdmedicine.com)
(source: medicaleconomics.moderdmedicine.com)
- With the exception of God Himself, highly educated people are are just as likely (if not MORE likely) to believe in the supernatural and paranormal:
"While 23 percent of college freshmen expressed a general belief in paranormal concepts from astrology to communicating with the dead 31 percent of seniors did so, and the figure jumped to 34 percent among graduate students. "As people attain higher college-education levels, the likelihood of believing in paranormal dimensions increases," Farha and Steward write."
(source: nbcnews.com)
"These results are consistent with the notion that having a strong scientific knowledge base is not enough to insulate a person against irrational beliefs. Students who scored well on these tests were no more or less skeptical of pseudoscientific claims than students who scored very poorly. Apparently, the students were not able to apply their scientific knowledge to evaluate these pseudoscientific claims. We suggest that this inability stems in part from the way that science is traditionally presented to students: Students are taught what to think but not how to think."
(source: skeptic.com)
---(source: nbcnews.com)
"These results are consistent with the notion that having a strong scientific knowledge base is not enough to insulate a person against irrational beliefs. Students who scored well on these tests were no more or less skeptical of pseudoscientific claims than students who scored very poorly. Apparently, the students were not able to apply their scientific knowledge to evaluate these pseudoscientific claims. We suggest that this inability stems in part from the way that science is traditionally presented to students: Students are taught what to think but not how to think."
(source: skeptic.com)
To cut a long post short...
If people who are highly intelligent or better educated are less likely to believe in God because they think rationally, why are they MORE likely to have other irrational beliefs than people who are less intelligent or have less education?