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Does being atheistic make you smarter?

NoC_T said:
Newton was devoutly religious. I never got the impression his beliefs constrained his intellect.
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He was a bright men and a religious one. It did hamper him a little. I think he spent part of his career figuring out when the world would end. 2050. if you are all wondering.
 
99percenter said:
Many people who go to college and take classes on evolution and ecology become atheists. If you don't, you really haven't learned anything. I was a bio major while i was in school and and have come to the conclusion there is no possible way a god exists.
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I have seen no evidence to either prove nor disprove the existence of God.

There is nothing unique about us.
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"Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am) - Rene Descartes

Being self-aware is uniquely human among all known lifeforms.
 
Goshin said:
Bring up IQ and race and see how quickly people will assert that IQ tests are BS. :mrgreen:
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I dont think they are BS at all. If you were to do one you would find that Asians are the smartest followed by whites, blacks, and latinos. Asian parents get after their kids a lot and it is reflected in how successful Asians end up becoming.
 
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99percenter said:
I dont think they are BS at all. If you were to do one you would find that Asians are the smartest followed by whites, blacks, and latinos. Asian parents get after their kids a lot and it is reflected in how successful Asians end up becoming.
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Let me make sure I've got this right, 99er?

It is your contention that "getting after your kids" is the key factor to producing smarter, therefore more successful children?
 
StillBallin75 said:
A little nitpicking here but "opposite" is not a synonym for "conversely."
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Not really what I said. Atheism doesn't cause intelligence, intrlligence causes atheism.
 
99percenter said:
He was a bright men and a religious one. It did hamper him a little. I think he spent part of his career figuring out when the world would end. 2050. if you are all wondering.
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That's better than 2012__At least I'll be in my 60s.
 
Cephus said:
Not really what I said. Atheism doesn't cause intelligence, intrlligence causes atheism.
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less ignorance may cause more arrogance:mrgreen:
 
99percenter said:
I dont think they are BS at all. If you were to do one you would find that Asians are the smartest followed by whites, blacks, and latinos. Asian parents get after their kids a lot and it is reflected in how successful Asians end up becoming.
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The problem with IQ tests is that they are in no way an objective measure of what psychologists consider "general intelligence," and thus their validity as a measure of "general intelligence," however it is defined, is questionable. We already have trouble defining intelligence, much less measuring it. As an Asian myself, I can tell you for certain that scoring high on an IQ test is not a guarantee of having even common sense.
 
Wake said:
Religiosity and intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do you think being an atheist makes you, on average, smarter than those who believe?

Are the links and sources within it trustworthy, iyo?
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Heavens no, it doesn't make you smarter, it just means that you arrive at the conclusion that there is no God, through logical examination of the issue. Do more intelligent people tend to be atheist overall? Likely. That being said, there are many intelligent people who are religious.

Whether there is a God, or not, there is no way to prove it either way. Those of us who tend toward religious experience arrive there by different means. Some, because they were taught to do so, and others, because they have experiences which lead them to believe there is something greater than ourselves, and a rhyme and reason to the universe besides random chance. For those who do not have these experiences, there is no way to relate them in a way which makes sense to an atheist. There is also no way for an atheist to relate his/her disbelief to someone who has had these experiences either.

What it amounts to, is that we are all different, and we perceive differently, and as long as we can manage not to cause harm based on our beliefs, then I'm good with it. :)
 
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Though the OP said does being atheist make you smarter, but what I think he meant to ask is that is there a correlation between being smarter and being atheist, are there more likely to be smarter people as Atheists than believers in faith? I dunno the answer to that question, looks like another correlation study, though.
 
Empirica said:
Let me make sure I've got this right, 99er?

It is your contention that "getting after your kids" is the key factor to producing smarter, therefore more successful children?
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It is a factor. No one is saying that being an atheist automatically makes you smart. Being religious doesnt make you stupid either. Atheists just tend to be smarter.
 
Cephus said:
Atheism doesn't cause intelligence, intelligence causes atheism.
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This is what I don't understand.

Why would intelligence cause atheism?

One can be logical, able to understand, able to keep vast amounts of data in their head with all of their interwining interrelationships, etc, and still be able to believe in a God(s), imho.

I think it's ironic that some say intelligence leads to atheism, while the most intelligent man in the world with 200 IQ believes that intelligent design and evolution are compatible, as evidenced by his Conceptual-Theoretic Model of the Universe.
 
99percenter said:
He was a bright men and a religious one. It did hamper him a little. I think he spent part of his career figuring out when the world would end. 2050. if you are all wondering.
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Bright? Sure, if that's an apropos adjective to describe monumental and staggering genius.

Newton was one of those guys born in the wrong time.
 
Wake said:
This is what I don't understand.

Why would intelligence cause atheism?

One can be logical, able to understand, able to keep vast amounts of data in their head with all of their interwining interrelationships, etc, and still be able to believe in a God(s), imho.

I think it's ironic that some say intelligence leads to atheism, while the most intelligent man in the world with 200 IQ believes that intelligent design and evolution are compatible, as evidenced by his Conceptual-Theoretic Model of the Universe.
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Intelligent design can be (depending on the flavor) compatible with evolution. There's nothing that bars the two. What you need to understand is that in these general terms when people are saying "intelligence leads to atheism" or some variant thereof, it's reference to statistics; not the individual. There are plenty of very very intelligent people who are theists. But on average, the more "intelligent" one is, the more likely they are to be atheist (above mean value).
 
There's no causation here. Only attitude, bias and insecurity.

An atheist must be more intelligent, since they get to heckle from the sidelines, the so so silly God-botherers, with their archaic superstitions, and their ahistorical rigidity.

Neither camp holds the monopoly on grey matter. And each have their pride.
 
Ikari said:
Intelligent design can be (depending on the flavor) compatible with evolution. There's nothing that bars the two. What you need to understand is that in these general terms when people are saying "intelligence leads to atheism" or some variant thereof, it's reference to statistics; not the individual. There are plenty of very very intelligent people who are theists. But on average, the more "intelligent" one is, the more likely they are to be atheist (above mean value).
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While that is interesting, I really want to know why that is. What makes these people, on average, smarter?
 
Wake said:
While that is interesting, I really want to know why that is. What makes these people, on average, smarter?
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Not their atheism. Likely some combination of genetics, environment, and personal determination.
 
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