Atheism and IQ

[Davin]

stumbled upon this while looking for related articles.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0105/Are-you-smarter-than-an-atheist-A-religious-quiz/When-does-the-Jewish-Sabbath-begin

only missed 5 questions...if you take it post your scores.

30 out of 32, to be fair though, I took a very similar test a year or two ago.

[Ali]

I'm a Smarty McSmartypants.  I only missed 2 (had no idea that Catholics believe you need something other than faith to be saved, and also didn't know the name of the person associated with the "Great Awakening" although I knew it wasn't Billy Graham.)

As for the OP about whether atheists tend to have a higher IQ and higher levels of intelligence - that does fit in with my life experience for the most part.  Although that's not to say that there aren't incredibly smart theists.  My dad is actually one of the smartest men I've ever met; you can call him up at any time and ask him any sort of "How Stuff Works" type question, and he'll launch into the explanation like he's been just dying for someone to ask.  He can also do all sorts of crazy math in his head, and he has a sort of Rainman-esque ability to remember long strings of numbers.  He's also an Evangelical Christian.  I don't really understand how someone can be so in tune with the physical sciences AND believe that God created the world in 7 days.  

[Too Few Lions]

I'm a Smarty McSmartypants.  I only missed 2 (had no idea that Catholics believe you need something other than faith to be saved, and also didn't know the name of the person associated with the "Great Awakening" although I knew it wasn't Billy Graham.)

I got 30/32 too, and didn't know the same two questions!

[Whitney]

You answered 30 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 94%.

Missed the one about who is this person that ended up being Jewish and the one about Indonesia.

[Sweetdeath]

Wow, I really have NO interest in the bible. I got 26/32 xDD sheeeesh. But all hindu and buddhist questions were super easy for me.
Christian and mormon stuff, I was like deeerp.

Man, I do love Buddhidsm.

Anyway, I do tend to link intelligence and higher I.Q to lack of /no belief. I'm definitely above 125, and I have never been a believer. It's kinda rare to see religious scientists, especially physicists.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

stumbled upon this while looking for related articles.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0105/Are-you-smarter-than-an-atheist-A-religious-quiz/When-does-the-Jewish-Sabbath-begin

only missed 5 questions...if you take it post your scores.

I got all 32 correct, but I've got an M.Div., so I've been over all this stuff a million times.

[Sweetdeath]

That's impressive~

[Thunder Road]

I got 28/32, although I take issue with one of the questions.  Nirvana is a general term for enlightenment for most eastern philosophies, and I'm pretty sure it applies to both Hinduism and Buddhism, although it told me Hinduism was wrong.  I remember learning about the Cycle of Samsara and what not in a World Religions class about 2 years ago.

[Sweetdeath]

I've never heard the term "Nirvana" applied to hinduism. I seem to recall a lack of Norse and Shinto myth questions in that quiz. Booo xDD

[Whitney]

http://library.thinkquest.org/28505/hinduism/nirva.htm

Apparently Hinduism does have the concept of nirvana.  So the question should have had a Buddhism and Hinduism option. 


But, if having to choose between the two:

The concept of nirvana comes from the Yogic traditions of the Sramanas whose origins go back to at least the earliest centuries of the first millennium BCE.[2] The Pali Canon contains the earliest written detailed discussion of nirvana and the concept has thus become most associated with the teaching of the historical Buddha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana

then Buddhism would be the first choice due to it having an early written history of the subject.

going further....in buddhism nirvana is the end of suffering while hinduism the goal is separation form the ego.

So since the question asked about nirvana and said something about suffering then the choice would be buddhism.

I'll agree that it was a tricky question since they were trying to ask basic questions and something like that would confuse someone who knew nirvana was part of both buddhism and hinduism yet didn't know the slight differences.  I just looked up hinduism and nirvana otherwise I wouldn't have known...I didn't even know they used the term.

[xSilverPhinx]

Thanks for uploading the link, I find the topic of intelligence and religiosity to be fascinating.

Though I do think that there's more of a correlation between higher intelligence and atheism/liberalism rather than causation, a measure of theists of intelligence could be how well they rationalise their beliefs to justify believing in them. It's said that the more intelligent among them are better at this, and since a literal interpretation of the bible is close to impossible to reconcile with known reality, they tend to be more liberal and have a more metaphorical approach.

[xSilverPhinx]

In the same way, (just thinking) one may be of higher intelligence, but put one of these on the mean streets of L.A. (or another)...and there's very high probability that "evolution" will exterminate him/her.  Put a street kid in an educated environment...and he may learn and become intelligent.

That's why, for evolution, diversity is so important. It's all so relative.

[Firebird]

Got a 28 out of 32. Didn't know the first great awakening leader, that Protestants believe salvation is through faith alone, that Job is most closely associated with suffering for God, or (sadly) one of the ten commandments.

As far as the IQ argument, I have not always found that to be the case, though I would say smarter people do tend to be more agnostic/atheist. I have definitely noticed even more of a correlation between IQ and rejection of organized religion. A lot of the people I know that do believe in god don't think religion actually knows what it's talking about. How they're still convinced there's one god as opposed to many, or space aliens, I'm not sure, but I haven't felt the need to question it.

[Tank]

Got a 28 out of 32. Didn't know the first great awakening leader, that Protestants believe salvation is through faith alone, that Job is most closely associated with suffering for God, or (sadly) one of the ten commandments.

As far as the IQ argument, I have not always found that to be the case, though I would say smarter people do tend to be more agnostic/atheist. I have definitely noticed even more of a correlation between IQ and rejection of organized religion. A lot of the people I know that do believe in god don't think religion actually knows what it's talking about. How they're still convinced there's one god as opposed to many, or space aliens, I'm not sure, but I haven't felt the need to question it.

This is true in my experience as well. The first time I came across a deist he was very bright.

[Sandra Craft]

I'm a Smarty McSmartypants.  I only missed 2 (had no idea that Catholics believe you need something other than faith to be saved, and also didn't know the name of the person associated with the "Great Awakening" although I knew it wasn't Billy Graham.)

I got the same two wrong, tho I just guessed lucky on a few others.