God makes you stupid, researchers claim

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Valued Senior Member
A psychology researcher has controversially claimed that stupidity is causally linked to how likely people are to believe in God.

University of Ulster professor Richard Lynn will draw the conclusion in new research due to be published in the journal Intelligence, the Times Higher Education Supplement reports.

Lynn and his two co-authors argue that average IQ is an excellent predictor of what proportion of the population are true believers, across 137 countries. They also cite surveys of the US Academy of Sciences and UK Royal Academy showing single-digit rates of religious belief among academics.
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more ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/12/god_boffins/

Not that this surprises anyone.

I suppose if you say God is behind everything, you dont figure it out yourself.
 
From my observations most religious people are either black or American so I would go along with these findings.
 
I don't think it is a case of "God makes you stupid" it's more a case of people with lower intelligence are more likely to believe in fantasies, more gullible.
Religious people do themselves a disservice by not using there intellect to question there beliefs.
A Goddit scenario is not an answer, it's a cop out.
 
It could also be the case that people with higher intelligence are more arrogant
(if the intelligence is low, there is no reason to be arrogant). The arrogance
leads to the assumption that everything can be proven scientifically, and
when something can't be proven, it should be just denied, not allowing the
probability that probably they aren't capable enough to find prove...
 
inzomnia said:
It could also be the case that people with higher intelligence are more arrogant
(if the intelligence is low, there is no reason to be arrogant). The arrogance
leads to the assumption that everything can be proven scientifically, and
when something can't be proven, it should be just denied, not allowing the
probability that probably they aren't capable enough to find prove...
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No.. religious people are way more arrogant with their sanctimonious "God loves me and not you" attitudes. Dont even go there.. cause theres an old saying that has to do with a pot and a kettle which I am sure you are very familiar with. They pretend to know what their God wants, and therefore believe they can judge God and its favor. Talk about arrogance.
 
w1z4rd said:
No.. religious people are way more arrogant with their sanctimonious "God loves me and not you" attitudes. Dont even go there.. cause theres an old saying that has to do with a pot and a kettle which I am sure you are very familiar with. They pretend to know what their God wants, and therefore believe they can judge God and its favor. Talk about arrogance.
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I don't think so. Religious is a fact that a person admit that there is something
higher and supreme. This is contra arrogance.

Non religious one has no fear, which is also a form of arrogance.

When people are truly religious, they will questioning God as well. In Islam at
least, there is a written order that Muslim should learn about God's creation
in order for them to understand the creator better. It is not said for them to
just believe blindly.
 
If I write down something on a paper, and leave the paper in a jungle, and people can't
find who has written or leave the paper there, does that mean I am not exist?

Or does the paper evolved from a decomposed wood because the paper and the wood
share similar character?
 
If I write down something on a paper, and leave the paper in a jungle, and people can't
find who has written or leave the paper there, does that mean I am not exist?

Or does the paper evolved from a decomposed wood because the paper and the wood
share similar character?
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Well here's the problem with that arguement. If you believe God created everything then there's nothing I could show you that would convince you it's possible for a thing to come into existence without being created by an intelligent being. Even something we know happens on its own, like evolution, is the work of an intelligent being to you.

It sets up a line of circular reasoning. Everything is made by a creator because a creator must have made everything. How would you argue against this?
 
inzomnia said:
I don't think so. Religious is a fact that a person admit that there is something
higher and supreme. This is contra arrogance.
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There is no fact here mate. You assume there to be a higher and supreme being, but you still dont take away from what I said... in which I stated that your sanctimonious "holier than thou art" attitudes are more arrogant. For instance, lets say you are a looney christian... your arrogance is your assumption that the whole Jesus Christ story is right, and the Muslims and the Jews got it wrong. Of if you are a Muslim, you think that Muhammed bloke is the best thing since sliced cheese and you get all "Im ganna burn shit" on people who disagree with you.

Can you see yet where I am going with this?

Non religious one has no fear, which is also a form of arrogance.
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Chill on those lies mate. Seriously.. what you said is a fib. You are making shite up now.

When people are truly religious, they will questioning God as well. In Islam at
least, there is a written order that Muslim should learn about God's creation
in order for them to understand the creator better. It is not said for them to
just believe blindly.
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So you have no faith?

inzomnia said:
If I write down something on a paper, and leave the paper in a jungle, and people can't
find who has written or leave the paper there, does that mean I am not exist?

Or does the paper evolved from a decomposed wood because the paper and the wood
share similar character?
Click to expand...

You are making no sense now.
 
w1z4rd said:
There is no fact here mate. You assume there to be a higher and supreme being, but you still dont take away from what I said... in which I stated that your sanctimonious "holier than thou art" attitudes are more arrogant. For instance, lets say you are a looney christian... your arrogance is your assumption that the whole Jesus Christ story is right, and the Muslims and the Jews got it wrong. Of if you are a Muslim, you think that Muhammed bloke is the best thing since sliced cheese and you get all "Im ganna burn shit" on people who disagree with you.

Can you see yet where I am going with this?
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Or the atheists think the Muslims, Christians, Jews got it wrong. Your point?


Chill on those lies mate. Seriously.. what you said is a fib. You are making shite up now.
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It's true. Non religious one has no fear. They close the probability that God
could probably exist and all its consequences.

So you have no faith?
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I said, in Islam, people are told to learn the universe in order to understand
the existence of the Creator. Faith can't be insisted. It comes from learning.

You are making no sense now.
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What, the paper analogy? How did I make no sense?
 
We should ask what kind of god they ask of existence
is a external creator christian god only?

also as mis-t-highs indicated, it is probably a causal link in the reverse order: stupid people are more likely to believe in god while the reverse is maybe not true.

Moreover, people with high IQ may prefer to hide their belief while they in fact believes in god. (we should launch a test to see correlation between habit of expressing belief and IQ)

So to conclude I wait for the publication with all the details before jumping on conclusion.

One more thing, this studies are also specific of a context. Where was it done? in all countries?

In the past (at least at some point) maybe the reverse was true (atheist got lower IQ). and what about the future?
 
Xelios said:
And you can answer my question. How would you counter your own arguement that everything is created if you can't use anything in existence as an example of something that's not created?
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Where did I say that everything is created? God is not created. The rest is
created by God. That is my opinion.


ronan said:
We should ask what kind of god they ask of existence
is a external creator christian god only?

also as mis-t-highs indicated, it is probably a causal link in the reverse order: stupid people are more likely to believe in god while the reverse is maybe not true.

Moreover, people with high IQ may prefer to hide their belief while they in fact believes in god. (we should launch a test to see correlation between habit of expressing belief and IQ)

So to conclude I wait for the publication with all the details before jumping on conclusion.

One more thing, this studies are also specific of a context. Where was it done? in all countries?

In the past (at least at some point) maybe the reverse was true (atheist got lower IQ). and what about the future?
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Good point.
 
Where did I say that everything is created? God is not created. The rest is
created by God. That is my opinion.
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You're skirting the question, so I'll assume you can't answer it.
 
Again, it usually boils down to indoctrination, being brought up to accept the irrational and improbable as fact. Gullibility is normal in this case. How in the hell is a mind supposed to use reason and rationale when that ability is wiped out from birth?
 
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