http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=402381
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-26/health/liberals.atheists.sex.intelligence_1_sexual-behaviors-liberalism-exclusivity?_s=PM:HEALTH
I was hoping to get the temperature of the forum on this. Does intelligence = atheism. Or does a higher intellect at least create higher potential for atheism. I've heard that extremism follows the poor and uneducated, this is both religious and nationalist extremism/fundamentalism. I also heard in a lecture that religious officials and those most educated of theologians had the least literal interpretations of their faith. The above are a few articles that I found that mention the potential link of higher I.Q. to atheism.
Since I have joined this forum I have heard and seen postings of deep philosophical, logical and scientific merit. To me it seems like the atheist world view requires the ability to rationalize the environment and to understand complex scientific principles like deep time, evolution and the biochemistry of the human mind. There are occasionally the atheists that post here that have simply been driven from their faith by prejudice, but I think a greater volume of those of us that post here have a fundamental working knowledge of the history of the universe. So in short, is religion, particularly religious literalism and fundamentalism, a relic of a more primitive past, will intellectual evolution eventually leave religion behind. Also do you think that atheists are just plain smarter in general than those of deep religiosity.
Also any other articles or links to studies would be appreciated.
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 couldn't agree more with your OP 23. I think atheists are generally more intelligent and better educated than theists, although there's obviously going to be some intelligent and well educated theists out there (somewhere... ;)). Here's an interesting article from Science Daily on the same subject;
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100224132655.htm
I'll have to dig out the article but I seem to recall that an IQ of 125 is the turning point between theistic and atheistic world views. The majority view below 125 being theistic and above atheistic. This does not preclude the existance of highly intelligent theists or brick stupid atheist.
Higher Education is also another indicator with those that do go into HE being more likely to be atheists. The interesting thing about this is if you consider the education level of the members of the US cenate 87 should be atheists and 13 theists. Las time I read about this only 1 or 2 actually were atheists. This means there are a lot of atheist liers or athiests just don't bother to stand for office in the US.
I suppose one might have to define "intelligence". If any of you watch The Big Bang Theory, the Sheldon character is supposed to be of higher intelligence (or so he thinks anyway) than his other "nerd" friends, yet many times Sheldon has to have common sense explained to him i.e. sarcasm, "social protocol"... Of course that's TV. I'm not suggesting that is true life, however it wouldn't be funny if it wasn't more true than fiction.
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.
Quote from: Too Few Lions on January 13, 2012, 05:40:56 PM
I couldn't agree more with your OP 23. I think atheists are generally more intelligent and better educated than theists
Atheists are also better looking ;D
If theism is as a result of ignorance, then it would stand to reason that with education you get progressively lower levels of theism.
Quote from: Twentythree on January 13, 2012, 05:15:13 PM
I've heard that extremism follows the poor and uneducated, this is both religious and nationalist extremism/fundamentalism.
I would guess that extremism follows oppression and desperation. The poor and uneducated are more likely to be oppressed and desperate.
Quote from: Twentythree on January 13, 2012, 05:25:10 PM
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 missed 3 questions.
What is the Dalai Lama? I put Hindu
Most people in India are? I put Muslim (I was thinking it was a trick question and didn't go for the obvious)
Most people in Indonesia are? I picked Muslim again...again for the above, but I wasn't sure either way.
Quote from: Tank on January 13, 2012, 05:49:49 PM
I'll have to dig out the article but I seem to recall that an IQ of 125 is the turning point between theistic and atheistic world views. The majority view below 125 being theistic and above atheistic. This does not preclude the existance of highly intelligent theists or brick stupid atheist.
Higher Education is also another indicator with those that do go into HE being more likely to be atheists. The interesting thing about this is if you consider the education level of the members of the US cenate 87 should be atheists and 13 theists. Las time I read about this only 1 or 2 actually were atheists. This means there are a lot of atheist liers or athiests just don't bother to stand for office in the US.
I imagine it's also partly down to one of the problems with democracy, maybe openly atheistic candidates are seen by both parties as being fairly unelectable, so never get that far. If the majority of the electorate are Christian, and a lot of those not so bright or educated, you're best off fielding candidates that appeal to them.
Looking online, an IQ of 125 or above represents only around 5% of the population, which is a rather depressing thought :(
http://iq-test.learninginfo.org/iq04.htm
Quote from: Tank on January 13, 2012, 05:49:49 PM
This means there are a lot of atheist liers or athiests just don't bother to stand for office in the US.
There are a lot of them who run for office without pushing religion and let people assume they are religious. All but maybe one of them is in the closet. I don't know who they are I just know that the Secular Coalition has a private list of contacts. The last I heard they had a list of 30ish senators and congressmen/women and that was probably 3 years ago so it may be more (or less) now.
As for atheism and IQ...I think we all know it's not a direct causation even though there is a correlation.
If you are mentally able to understand how a world works without having to rely on religious ideas, are mentally sound enough to support yourself rather than needing religion for support, and also have a brain that is inclined towards favoring logic and tangible things over faith and stories then you have a good recipe for an atheist. I think even creativity may play a factor as you do need to be able to think outside of the theistic box that most of us are raised in.
I'll note that I have met very few, if any, intelligent theists who push the fundamentalist view point...they tend to be liberal and willing to play nice with others.
So, perhaps intelligence in general does cause people to reject traditional religious ideas in favor of something that is more palatable for a civilized society.
Quote from: Whitney on January 13, 2012, 06:18:42 PM
So, perhaps intelligence in general does cause people to reject traditional religious ideas in favor of something that is more palatable for a civilized society.
Sounds a lot like what the fictional character of Christ thought of the "tradition of men".
Quote from: AnimatedDirt on January 13, 2012, 06:30:01 PM
Quote from: Whitney on January 13, 2012, 06:18:42 PM
So, perhaps intelligence in general does cause people to reject traditional religious ideas in favor of something that is more palatable for a civilized society.
Sounds a lot like what the fictional character of Christ thought of the "tradition of men".
Can you explain?
Quote from: Twentythree on January 13, 2012, 06:36:12 PM
Quote from: AnimatedDirt on January 13, 2012, 06:30:01 PM
Quote from: Whitney on January 13, 2012, 06:18:42 PM
So, perhaps intelligence in general does cause people to reject traditional religious ideas in favor of something that is more palatable for a civilized society.
Sounds a lot like what the fictional character of Christ thought of the "tradition of men".
Can you explain?
In a nutshell...men had put lots and lots of rules in keeping of the Sabbath. Specifically on this, the "men" were complaining that Jesus' disciples were eating with "unclean" hands...the fictional character of Christ in the piece of fiction known as the bible, said, "You hypocrites...you have let go the commands of God and are instead upholding traditions of men" In other words, it was not God's law they were enforcing, but that of their own making.
Quote from: Twentythree on January 13, 2012, 05:25:10 PM
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.
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. :-\
Quote from: Ali on January 13, 2012, 07:57:21 PM
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!
QuoteYou 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.
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.
Quote from: Twentythree on January 13, 2012, 05:25:10 PM
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.
That's impressive~
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.
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
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:
QuoteThe 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.
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.
Quote from: AnimatedDirt on January 13, 2012, 06:00:55 PM
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. ;)
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.
Quote from: Firebird on January 14, 2012, 04:38:29 AM
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.
Quote from: Ali on January 13, 2012, 07:57:21 PM
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.
I chose the Billy Graham answer only cuz two bad guys in Gundam 00 are named Billy and Graham. <~~ nerd
Quote from: Twentythree on January 13, 2012, 05:25:10 PM
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.
28/32
Didn't know Catholics were going for cannibalism (thought the bread and wine were only metaphors), thought the Dalai Lama was Hindu, said the Pakistani were predominantly Christian against my better judgement, and wasn't sure which definition of "book" they were using for the first book of the Christian bible. I just had my Catholic lady friend take it too, and she scored 20/32
The only one I got wrong was the one about which religious groups traditionally teach that salvation comes through faith alone. I put both Catholics and Protestants.
I guessed one or two, though.
I think that getting a score above 30 means one is overly obsessive about religious mythologies. :-\
I thought the bread and wine was a metaphor too! I mean, seriously wtf x_x
Quote from: Sweetdeath on January 16, 2012, 05:21:32 AM
I thought the bread and wine was a metaphor too! I mean, seriously wtf x_x
I know...who would believe that it actually transforms into flesh and blood...and who would want to eat it?
Some things are just plain weird.
Today I learned there's a potential market for AB+ Shiraz.
Quote from: Twentythree on January 13, 2012, 05:25:10 PM
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 missed 8 :'( . Not bad compared to the Catholics. :)
The Asmo didn't take the test. He refuses to be compared to a christian fundie. >:(
Quote from: MinnesotaMike on January 16, 2012, 06:36:54 AM
Today I learned there's a potential market for AB+ Shiraz.
:D
I got 32 but I took a wild guess at the awakening question and got it right. I think the questionnaire itself is the reason that atheist, agnostics, Jews and Mormons got more questions correct, many are directed towards the OT and specialized questions that would allow Jewish or Mormons to score higher especially if the results were taken from an American sample.
Quote from: Asmodean on January 16, 2012, 07:26:31 AM
The Asmo didn't take the test. He refuses to be compared to a christian fundie. >:(
Stop being so cool! XP
Quote from: Sweetdeath on January 16, 2012, 03:57:28 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on January 16, 2012, 07:26:31 AM
The Asmo didn't take the test. He refuses to be compared to a christian fundie. >:(
Stop being so cool! XP
Right, it makes the rest of us look bad!
Quote from: Crow on January 16, 2012, 02:42:27 PM
I got 32 but I took a wild guess at the awakening question and got it right. I think the questionnaire itself is the reason that atheist, agnostics, Jews and Mormons got more questions correct, many are directed towards the OT and specialized questions that would allow Jewish or Mormons to score higher especially if the results were taken from an American sample.
Really? I didn't count up the questions, but I got the opposite impression. I thought that there were more questions about Christianity than any other religion. And that still doesn't explain why atheists get the best scores - in theory, if we are assuming that people won't know about religions other than their own, wouldn't we do the worst? I think we just pay better attention. :)
Quote from: Sweetdeath on January 16, 2012, 05:21:32 AM
I thought the bread and wine was a metaphor too! I mean, seriously wtf x_x
man takes eucharist hostage (http://www.wftv.com/news/news/body-of-christ-snatched-from-church-held-hostage-b/nD9rH/)
I knew the right answer to that question only because I'd read this article.
That's a lot of angst over a bit of cracker.
Quote from: Ali on January 16, 2012, 04:38:08 PM
Really? I didn't count up the questions, but I got the opposite impression. I thought that there were more questions about Christianity than any other religion. And that still doesn't explain why atheists get the best scores - in theory, if we are assuming that people won't know about religions other than their own, wouldn't we do the worst? I think we just pay better attention. :)
Yeah a lot of the questions were Christian but pretty much simple common knowledge questions that anybody living in a western society would be able to get as its rammed in our ears regularly. In theory any questions that were associated with another religion would only help the believers of those religions achieve a higher score. In the matter of atheists and agnostics getting better scores its probably because atheists and agnostics have usually absorbed a larger amount of information about various religions and is one of the reasons we/they get better average scores than the average christian.
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on January 16, 2012, 04:34:36 AM
I think that getting a score above 30 means one is overly obsessive about religious mythologies. :-\
In my case it's because I retained most of what I learned back when I was a bit obsessive for the purposes of figuring things out for myself. I think I quit actually caring over 4 years ago so any subsequent knowledge since then has been by accident from random forum posts. I use to be able to answer most of those questions via fill in the blank...don't think I'd do so well now without choices to pick from (brain likes to give priority to important stuff that actually applies to life).
Quote from: Whitney on January 16, 2012, 06:56:52 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on January 16, 2012, 04:34:36 AM
I think that getting a score above 30 means one is overly obsessive about religious mythologies. :-\
In my case it's because I retained most of what I learned back when I was a bit obsessive for the purposes of figuring things out for myself. I think I quit actually caring over 4 years ago so any subsequent knowledge since then has been by accident from random forum posts. I use to be able to answer most of those questions via fill in the blank...don't think I'd do so well now without choices to pick from (brain likes to give priority to important stuff that actually applies to life).
In mine it's because it's knowledge that I pick up while talking with other atheists. Having never been religious myself, I never felt the need to research any of it with serious intent to see if any of it held any water.
Probably the fact that the secular and non religious don't shy away from information on religions also helps keep the average up whereas for Catholics for instance, where such things are more controlled and people kept dumbed down, knwledege is lower than average. ::)
I'm pretty sure I pick up 95% of the things I know by sheer osmosis. ;)
I got 29/32. I'm actually surprised, because I don't make a habit of studying religions. I guess I've absorbed a lot from being on these forums. ;)
Quote from: Ali on January 16, 2012, 08:51:12 PM
I'm pretty sure I pick up 95% of the things I know by sheer osmosis. ;)
LOL Maybe. The only "religious" things I read were Buddist, but I don't really consider Buddhism religious, and more of a philosophy.
I took the quiz, got 28 out of 32. I had hoped for higher, yet I figure that's a respectable enough score; in the face of the craziness I put myself through.
I was given an IQ test a couple months ago, and I did pretty well with that, too. I'm somewhere in the 90th percentile, and just one or two questions shy of whatever the next tier was (can't remember just now).
Sweetdeath, i think I'm liking Buddhism, too. I'm exploring it more, a little bit at a time, just now. :)
Quote from: Tristan Jay on January 17, 2012, 07:33:31 AM
I took the quiz, got 28 out of 32. I had hoped for higher, yet I figure that's a respectable enough score; in the face of the craziness I put myself through.
Still, that's much higher than the average, even for atheists (which I think was 20.8 ). Given how high everyone who took it here scored, there must be some atheists out there who truly know nothing about religions in order to get that average.
Quote from: Tristan Jay on January 17, 2012, 07:33:31 AM
I took the quiz, got 28 out of 32. I had hoped for higher, yet I figure that's a respectable enough score; in the face of the craziness I put myself through.
I was given an IQ test a couple months ago, and I did pretty well with that, too. I'm somewhere in the 90th percentile, and just one or two questions shy of whatever the next tier was (can't remember just now).
Sweetdeath, i think I'm liking Buddhism, too. I'm exploring it more, a little bit at a time, just now. :)
Buddhism is definitely wirth reading. It is very loving and lax. I have a few books I take on the metro with me. Siddhartha is wirth reading. It's only like 100 pages.
Buddhist hell is hardcore,but ignoring that and nirvana, the philosophies of Buddism are like a good book; like King Arthur or the Ugly Duckling.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on January 17, 2012, 06:04:01 AM
LOL Maybe. The only "religious" things I read were Buddist, but I don't really consider Buddhism religious, and more of a philosophy.
Nah its full on religion, the teachings of Siddhartha contain a lot of spiritual talk and writings about there being a true path to follow and a right way of doing things but unlike practically every other religion it says if you don't believe it that's fine.
Quote from: Crow on January 17, 2012, 05:16:29 PM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on January 17, 2012, 06:04:01 AM
LOL Maybe. The only "religious" things I read were Buddist, but I don't really consider Buddhism religious, and more of a philosophy.
Nah its full on religion, the teachings of Siddhartha contain a lot of spiritual talk and writings about there being a true path to follow and a right way of doing things but unlike practically every other religion it says if you don't believe it that's fine.
the two aren't mutually exclusive, and were pretty intrinsically entwined in the past. We consider Plato as a philosopher, yet he taught that only someone who practiced his brand of philosophy could return to God after death, which sounds awfully like a religion.
Quote from: Twentythree on January 13, 2012, 05:15:13 PM
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=402381
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-26/health/liberals.atheists.sex.intelligence_1_sexual-behaviors-liberalism-exclusivity?_s=PM:HEALTH
I was hoping to get the temperature of the forum on this. Does intelligence = atheism. Or does a higher intellect at least create higher potential for atheism. I've heard that extremism follows the poor and uneducated, this is both religious and nationalist extremism/fundamentalism. I also heard in a lecture that religious officials and those most educated of theologians had the least literal interpretations of their faith. The above are a few articles that I found that mention the potential link of higher I.Q. to atheism.
Since I have joined this forum I have heard and seen postings of deep philosophical, logical and scientific merit. To me it seems like the atheist world view requires the ability to rationalize the environment and to understand complex scientific principles like deep time, evolution and the biochemistry of the human mind. There are occasionally the atheists that post here that have simply been driven from their faith by prejudice, but I think a greater volume of those of us that post here have a fundamental working knowledge of the history of the universe. So in short, is religion, particularly religious literalism and fundamentalism, a relic of a more primitive past, will intellectual evolution eventually leave religion behind. Also do you think that atheists are just plain smarter in general than those of deep religiosity.
Also any other articles or links to studies would be appreciated.
my grandma has an IQ of 160, my mom 140, and my dad 160, mine is 180. both parents and grandparents are theistic, and i was for the longest time too.
also, being poor and uneducated has nothing to do with intelligence. if i decided to drop out of school and never get a job, id still have an iq of 180. though more people who are uneducated tend to have lower iq's, it's correlation without causation. many people of average intelligence are educated and many people with average intelligence are uneducated and perhaps poor.
Quote from: Too Few Lions on January 17, 2012, 11:10:57 PM
Quote from: Crow on January 17, 2012, 05:16:29 PM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on January 17, 2012, 06:04:01 AM
LOL Maybe. The only "religious" things I read were Buddist, but I don't really consider Buddhism religious, and more of a philosophy.
Nah its full on religion, the teachings of Siddhartha contain a lot of spiritual talk and writings about there being a true path to follow and a right way of doing things but unlike practically every other religion it says if you don't believe it that's fine.
the two aren't mutually exclusive, and were pretty intrinsically entwined in the past. We consider Plato as a philosopher, yet he taught that only someone who practiced his brand of philosophy could return to God after death, which sounds awfully like a religion.
That's true you can follow the philosophy of Islam or any other religion if one was inclined to but Buddhism is a religion from its fundamental premise, although philosophically speaking it is structured better than other religions for being used solely as a philosophy. I personally like a lot of what is said in Buddhism (i.e.my sig) but its hard to deny it being a religion. There are many religions that started out as philosophy that were later adopted as a religion however Buddhism isn't one of them, the concept of the sangha which is one of the three jewels helps distinguish Buddhism as a religion.