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Discussion and Debate
Discussion and Debate
Physical & Life Sciences
Why are very intelligent people usually atheists? It's not as obvious as it seems...
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<blockquote data-quote="Senator Cheese" data-source="post: 65574426" data-attributes="member: 346630"><p>Social Psychology combines the two most pseudoscientific disciplines to create a hybrid of bad scientific practice. I just wanted to get that out of the way beforehand: with the exception of very few really confined fields of research, psychology is filled with much speculation and very little hard facts.</p><p></p><p>Putting that aside, I do believe that a negative correlation may exist - which certainly does not imply a causative effect but could easily be explained in a cultural context: it is no surprise to see that universities are increasingly hostile towards mainstream Christian views. As I have explained in previous threads, the assumption that Christianity is often "backwards" (due to homophobia, fundamentalism and supposed ignorance of natural sciences) is held within many faculties and by many university authorities.</p><p></p><p>What I find interesting in this context is the idea that, if this study were to have shown a negative correlation between intelligence and, for example, female gender or skin pigmentation, the study would have <em>obviously</em> been either a forgery or simply the result of <em>apparent</em> discrimination. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p>It just goes to show that any observation on a macrosocial level is open to the wildest of speculation in regards to assumptions regarding causality.</p><p></p><p>Furthermore, the question also remains as to how methodically correct these studies were designed. How were the individuals assigned to their respective groups? I don't think it's completely off the table to assume that some of these results may be attributed to selection bias.</p><p></p><p>Either way, faith and intelligence may or may not correlate negatively. There will be extremely stupid atheists and extremely intelligent religious individuals, and vice versa. I find the meta-analysis interesting, but no more than that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Senator Cheese, post: 65574426, member: 346630"] Social Psychology combines the two most pseudoscientific disciplines to create a hybrid of bad scientific practice. I just wanted to get that out of the way beforehand: with the exception of very few really confined fields of research, psychology is filled with much speculation and very little hard facts. Putting that aside, I do believe that a negative correlation may exist - which certainly does not imply a causative effect but could easily be explained in a cultural context: it is no surprise to see that universities are increasingly hostile towards mainstream Christian views. As I have explained in previous threads, the assumption that Christianity is often "backwards" (due to homophobia, fundamentalism and supposed ignorance of natural sciences) is held within many faculties and by many university authorities. What I find interesting in this context is the idea that, if this study were to have shown a negative correlation between intelligence and, for example, female gender or skin pigmentation, the study would have [I]obviously[/I] been either a forgery or simply the result of [I]apparent[/I] discrimination. :) It just goes to show that any observation on a macrosocial level is open to the wildest of speculation in regards to assumptions regarding causality. Furthermore, the question also remains as to how methodically correct these studies were designed. How were the individuals assigned to their respective groups? I don't think it's completely off the table to assume that some of these results may be attributed to selection bias. Either way, faith and intelligence may or may not correlate negatively. There will be extremely stupid atheists and extremely intelligent religious individuals, and vice versa. I find the meta-analysis interesting, but no more than that. [/QUOTE]
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Why are very intelligent people usually atheists? It's not as obvious as it seems...
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