One for the Atheists amongst us

[Steven]

Where is Aus Fox when you need him? :icon_bigg :icon_wink From the Torygraph.

Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'
By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

People with higher IQs are less likely to believe in God, according to a new study.

Professor Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at Ulster University, said many more members of the "intellectual elite" considered themselves atheists than the national average.

A decline in religious observance over the last century was directly linked to a rise in average intelligence, he claimed.

But the conclusions - in a paper for the academic journal Intelligence - have been branded "simplistic" by critics.

Professor Lynn, who has provoked controversy in the past with research linking intelligence to race and sex, said university academics were less likely to believe in God than almost anyone else.

A survey of Royal Society fellows found that only 3.3 per cent believed in God - at a time when 68.5 per cent of the general UK population described themselves as believers.

A separate poll in the 90s found only seven per cent of members of the American National Academy of Sciences believed in God.

Professor Lynn said most primary school children believed in God, but as they entered adolescence - and their intelligence increased - many started to have doubts.

He told Times Higher Education magazine: "Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ. Academics have higher IQs than the general population. Several Gallup poll studies of the general population have shown that those with higher IQs tend not to believe in God."

He said religious belief had declined across 137 developed nations in the 20th century at the same time as people became more intelligent.

But Professor Gordon Lynch, director of the Centre for Religion and Contemporary Society at Birkbeck College, London, said it failed to take account of a complex range of social, economic and historical factors.

"Linking religious belief and intelligence in this way could reflect a dangerous trend, developing a simplistic characterisation of religion as primitive, which - while we are trying to deal with very complex issues of religious and cultural pluralism - is perhaps not the most helpful response," he said.

Dr Alistair McFadyen, senior lecturer in Christian theology at Leeds University, said the conclusion had "a slight tinge of Western cultural imperialism as well as an anti-religious sentiment".

Dr David Hardman, principal lecturer in learning development at London Metropolitan University, said: "It is very difficult to conduct true experiments that would explicate a causal relationship between IQ and religious belief. Nonetheless, there is evidence from other domains that higher levels of intelligence are associated with a greater ability - or perhaps willingness - to question and overturn strongly felt institutions."

 

[DesertFox]

But the conclusions - in a paper for the academic journal Intelligence - have been branded "simplistic" by critics.

You'd have to be a pretty cocksure critic to call something from an academic journal called Intelligence "simplistic".

 

[Hector]

Hardly a surprise is it?

 

[Chuck T Masala]

If they were asked when all on a plane with 3 out of 4 engines down in a storm, you can bet your life they would have to interrupt their prayers to answer the question.

 

[Matt_B]

If they were asked when all on a plane with 3 out of 4 engines down in a storm, you can bet your life they would have to interrupt their prayers to answer the question.

That's hope rather than belief :icon_wink

 

[Darth Vodka]

see attached

 

[Darth Vodka]

That's hope rather than belief :icon_wink

Pascal's wager

 

[Darth Vodka]

and another

 

[Steven]

and another

Most religions, as part of the philosophy, eschew personal material gain. :icon_wink

 

[RHYDAL]

Most religions, as part of the philosophy, eschew personal material gain. :icon_wink

Must be why they advocate 'Give Generously'.:icon_wink

 

[Darth Vodka]

Most religions, as part of the philosophy, eschew personal material gain. :icon_wink

the pope advocates the material gain of the pope

 

[Melton Fox]

Religion is for thickos, fantasists and the desperate. I have tried to look at it constructively, but that is all I can come up with.

 

[homer]

Religion is for thickos, fantasists and the desperate. I have tried to look at it constructively, but that is all I can come up with.

I know plenty of people who believe in one or other of the many religions out there who don't fall into any of those categories

 

[Darth Vodka]

I know plenty of people who believe in one or other of the many religions out there who don't fall into any of those categories

i know people who smoke who haven't died of cancer, but smoking causes cancer

 

[homer]

i know people who smoke who haven't died of cancer, but smoking causes cancer

Not for those people who haven't contracted it

But then, as with your point, it is utterly irrelevant to the point I was making

 

[fitz]

no shock at all at those results, rational thought and all

 

[Melton Fox]

Religion is for thickos, fantasists and the desperate. I have tried to look at it constructively, but that is all I can come up with.

I know plenty of people who believe in one or other of the many religions out there who don't fall into any of those categories

I guess it's all a case of relativity :icon_wink

 

[Darth Vodka]

Not for those people who haven't contracted it

But then, as with your point, it is utterly irrelevant to the point I was making

indeed it was irrelevant, but it was pointing out the irrelevance of your post

if somebody states there is a general correlation between A and B, the counter-argument that you know someone with A but not B is specious and irrelevant

 

[homer]

indeed it was irrelevant, but it was pointing out the irrelevance of your post

if somebody states there is a general correlation between A and B, the counter-argument that you know someone with A but not B is specious and irrelevant

I wasn't making that point at all

I was merely saying that religion is also for normal, rational, sane people as well as for thickos, fantasists and the desperate

 

[Darth Vodka]

I wasn't making that point at all

I was merely saying that religion is also for normal, rational, sane people as well as for thickos, fantasists and the desperate

Melts's point was the correlation (correct me if i'm wrong Melts) and not the A=B without exception

Bingo is for birds, if you play bingo, it doesn't invalidate my statement