There’s an interesting article in Times Higher Education today called High IQ turns academics into atheists in which they argue that “intelligence is a predictor of religious scepticism” and that “belief in God is much lower among academics than among the general population because scholars have higher IQs”.
The article is based on research by Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, who claims that this correlation between high IQ and lack of religious belief can be found across 137 countries.
Professor Lynn says he found that “most primary school children believed in God, but as they entered adolescence – and their intelligence increased – many began to have doubts and became agnostics”.
In response, academics from the London School of Economics, Birkbeck, University of London, University of Leeds and London Metropolitan University warned against trying to state a causal relationship between IQ and religious belief.
I would argue that one reason some young people might turn their back on religion in their teens would be to rebel against their parents, their community and the way they have been brought up.
People with a higher IQ may well be more questioning, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. And I know many very intelligent people with firm faiths.
Academics are by nature interested in research, finding the truth and not blindly accepting given facts – but I don’t feel that this is mutually exclusive to believing in God. Perhaps Professor Lynn should have a chat with members of the Christian Academic Network and see how their IQs measure up.
Incidentally, finding the Christian Academic Network online took me nicely on to the Churches Media Council, which is right up my street, and all these other related organisations - there’s a group for almost every profession! Who knew?
Although I agree that high IQ certainly does not connote a tendency towards atheism/agnosticism, there is very real difficulty in reconciling the preclusion between academia and religion. Academia, as you mentioned, entails research and raising questions. Religion however, requires faith in the imperceivable, the inexplicable. True affiliation in a religion is thus based on personal reasons (for the sake of this post, I’m excluding other nuances such as the inheritance of religion from generation to generation, etc). A person makes the choice of believing in a particular way of life for any number of reasons, whether because it explains the world in understandable and associable terms, the morals it espouses, or for the comfort of it; regardless, it’s decision made based on subjectivity.
This is not to say that people of faith don’t raise questions, some certainly do (although in regards to the Church, such questioning in the past would’ve raised more than a few eyebrows, it would’ve raised a few torches, but that’s another point). But raising questions about either certain points within dogma or the ever persistent question of God’s existence cannot be grouped within the field of academia. Well, maybe in philosophy where existentialism and ethics are the court for playing ball. The truth is, these questions can never (or at least in the present) be truly resolved as even a tentatively accepted hypothesis in a larger group of people. Answers found will be personal revelations.
Understand, I’m not bagging on religion although I’d given up my faith last year. My family is still very devout Catholic and albeit some questionable issues concerning some of its past and dogma, I have true respect for religion and how it can help those that want it when it isn’t breeding exclusivity and judgment or proclaiming itself to be the only truth out of the myriad of different spiritualities in the world. At my university, the large majority of the people I’ve known on a personal level consider themselves agnostic or atheist. But I also personally know some very bright soon-to-be future surgeons, lawyers, and businessmen who believe in a God from many different faiths and they are certainly no less intelligent than I am. I miss religion personally, praying was a very comforting daily practice in my life. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make sense any more and I can’t pray without including agency, investment, and above it all, reason.
Thank you so much for that very thoughtful response! It’s definitely an interesting area and I can’t really begin to unravel it all. I think there is a distinction to made here between the academic study of religion and academics who have a faith. I would guess that a devoutly Christian English professor, for example, would potentially find fewer areas of conflict with their faith than someone who is routinely concerned with philosophical/theological issues as part of their work? I’m not really sure what the answer is!
As for reason, well, I am currently tiptoeing round the edges of faith and I have a few intellectual questions that I am working through. But at the end of the day, I do think it’s true that: “For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.”
Hm. I guess I would question whether it’s a person’s IQ that causes them to dismiss religion, or the fact that institutions are teaching that there is no God. If someone is repeatedly told, “There is no God, and only an idiot believes there is,” then eventually they’ll probably agree, because no one wants to be called an idiot. And if everyone you know claims to be an atheist, you will probably say the same since you don’t want to be different and stand out in the crowd. To me, it’s less about intelligence than it is following the trend.
Ironically enough, only someone with omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence can say for certain there is no God.
That’s a good point too – I think it is very much a sign of the times. Surely no one would claim that great Christian thinkers like Copernicus, Galileo, Pascale, Descartes, Boyle, Newton, Faraday et al had a low IQ? But they were alive in more “religious” times, when you would stand out from the crowd more as an atheist.
Dear Pink Sunshnie and All,
Interesting conversation you are developing here. I read about this study too but do wonder about one thing. It is the ASSUMPTION that academically accomplished people have a high IQ. I just do not believe that is true.
In my observation, academic accomplishments are most often the result of hard work and – yes – a good mind, but not a brilliant mind. With a high IQ you would often want to “move on” to the next thing before doing the work it takes to get the job done and land what is recognized by the system as an actual academic accomplishment.
I would not be surprised if, in fact, studies of high IQ individuals would reveal a heightened level of faith. With a high IQ many have passed the level of “wanna be smart” which I think is a bigger obstacle to faith than real intelligence.
Blessings,
Anette
I guess my own IQ is not even high enough to spell Sunshine correctly. Oh well…
Hi Anette
) Thanks for your comment!
Wow, that didn’t occur to me, but it’s so true! (your first comment, that is, not the spelling issue
Pink x
Anette – “I would not be surprised if, in fact, studies of high IQ individuals would reveal a heightened level of faith. With a high IQ many have passed the level of “wanna be smart” which I think is a bigger obstacle to faith than real intelligence.”
Brilliant! >clapclapclap<
I am BAFFLED how you could give your first post with a straight face.
You say…
——–
“Hm. I guess I would question whether it’s a person’s IQ that causes them to dismiss religion, or the fact that institutions are teaching that there is no God. If someone is repeatedly told, “There is no God, and only an idiot believes there is,” then eventually they’ll probably agree, because no one wants to be called an idiot. And if everyone you know claims to be an atheist, you will probably say the same since you don’t want to be different and stand out in the crowd. To me, it’s less about intelligence than it is following the trend.
Ironically enough, only someone with omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence can say for certain there is no God.”
——-
It is, in fact, admirable that someone could be raised as a child in America today that oozes religion from every pore and eventually free themselves from it. Children are constantly told there is a god, and only an idiot doesn’t believe there is a god. (Proof of this is that if people didn’t push religion on children, religion would eventually die out. it is mandatory for religious people to attempt to convert anyone they can, young or old, to their faith. Its the lifeblood of religion.)
If you claim to be an Atheist, you are the one that stands out, not vice versa like you claim above. It is everything about intelligence that gives someone enough courage and assurance to be able to dispell relgion considering SO MANY people in America are religious.
It doesn’t take someone with omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence to say there is no god. You can’t disprove a negative. Any logical person who has had some kind of secondary schooling knows this.
Anti-anonymous – How fascinating that something I said 3 months ago struck such a nerve with you.
Did you not read the original post? Have you no comment to make to that? Why pick me, specifically, without even saying hello to your host? And why so afraid to use a real blog link?
I disagree with you that children raised in America today “ooze religion.” People don’t go to church, God is not allowed to be taught in schools, in any way, shape, or form. People of faith are generally viewed with disdain, such as you display. Church attendance is falling in record numbers, and churches are closing due to lack of membership.
I stand by my statement that someone would have to BE God to be able to state with absolute finality that there is no God.
Since you can’t prove that God does NOT exist, and yet choose to believe God does not exist – believing in something you can’t prove – I guess your faith isn’t all that different than many other religions.
This is definitely an emotive topic, that’s for sure!
LOL, sometimes I think religion and politics inspire more passion than sex!
The situation is different in America according to http://www.buffalo.edu/news/8732 : ‘Among scientists, as in the general population, being raised in a home in which religion and religious practice were valued is the most important predictor of present religiosity among the subjects.
Ecklund and Scheitle concluded that the assumption that becoming a scientist necessarily leads to loss of religion is untenable.
Ecklund says, “It appears that those from non-religious backgrounds disproportionately self-select into scientific professions. ‘
[...] atheism rates across 137 nations Intelligent people ‘less likely to believe in God’ – Telegraph High IQ “turns academics into atheists” Pink Sunshine Crime [...]
[...] overview of studies on the subject: Intelligent people tend to be more religious. More links: High IQ “turns academics into atheists” Pink Sunshine Study: Higher [...]
When interpreting these results one must keep in mind that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. That being said, I was quite surprised with the simplicity of the study. Only two variables were examined. I re-analyzed the data from the study by adding GDP per capita into the regression model. As it turns out, together GDP per capita and religiosity predict about 68% of the variance in national IQs. GDP per capita was a stronger predictor of national IQ. Moreover, when GDP per capita was statistically controlled, the shared variance between national IQ and religiosity was reduced by half. While there are still multiple interpretations of the data, it suggests that the relationship between national IQ and religiosity is more complicated than indicated by the study.