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¿Question #5001?
Randy Cox: Do you believe that, generally speaking, intelligence and religious belief are inversely proportional?

AnthonyPansch: know it or don't know it, but believing in science is just another religion … and no.
Svengaard: Aye, totally.
Randy Cox: I have often thought this. There are outliers who disprove it, but not a lot of them.
hob69: Provocative question. I wouldn't say that's necessarily true, but there is something about religious belief that can lead to a narrowness of perspective and hence close off whole arenas of investigation, information and analysis. But the same can be said of any person who chooses any allegiance - to a political creed, an economic view, an intellectual position, including an anti-religious perspective.
TedW: wow....
touchstonethefool: Depends on the person: I've met some very knowledgeable Mormons, but that doesn't stop me from thinking their beliefs are bugnuts.
R N Raisin: Nope
Woelf: It often seems that way, doesn't it?
jondunc: I find that can be unfortunately true. However, the most sophisticated and nuanced religious belief most often compliments high levels of intelligence.
daveroswell: not really
tankexmortis: No, it's not a direct correlation. I think you're much more likely to find a dumb theist than a dumb atheist, but there are plenty of religious people that are intelligent.
Phil Fleischmann: No. You'd have to be quite a bigot to believe that.
Roofio78: No, looking at what some religious leaders achieved, they obviously weren't dumb!
familynight: Atheists do tend to have higher IQs than the general population but that doesn't necessarily prove your proposition. It really depends on how generally you mean. But yeah, I do believe that. I just don't want to insult anyone.
MisterCranky: No, I do not. I find that the most intelligent people tend to have the very most intelligent religious beliefs.
Numskull: No.
2amp: no
Couggar: no, there have been many times that religious beliefs were proved correct years later when intelligence was incorrect.
blindspot: No, both seem to feed and be fed by creativity.
Roja: It should, but there are too many exceptions...
ZeroZilla: No, and I think that people that do are as narrow-minded as people that believe that all those who don't believe in God are evil, and deserving of death.
kingmaker fan: Nope
DHEK: No. But for some people, they seem to be. However, generally speaking they aren't inversely proportional.
aleo09: no
Eric Haas: No, I don't believe there is any correlation.
KDSN: yes.
Ebon Wendigo: No
onky: They are.
CMOT Dibbler: No.
Leo-T: very often - but I've met some refreshing exceptions from time to time (like the priest who taught my college advanced physics class)
Beelzebub: LOL...yes that would be true. Similar to rank and intelligence in most organizations.
vampywife: I would not say all religious beliefs, just the narrow-minded ones fit that theory.
Dorque: Yup.
Rotterdam: No!
Shotmagnet: generally, but not always
scriptorum: No. I've known a large number of religious people who are intelligent. Existence, consciousness, and the feeling of identity are powerful concepts we deal with directly as human beings. Intelligence alone cannot provide good answers for these things. That said, I'm fairly agnostic although I sometimes have a spiritual bent. In any case, I find generalizations, like the ones in your question, are biased and dangerous.
MartinTrouman: after turning it around for a few minutes..... I think the term "intelligence" is too difuse to make any such ratings... I generally think strong religious belif brings narrowmindedness...
mlanza: No - But I do believe that "intelligent design" is exhibited all around us.
zoopiglet: Never really thought about it and I don't plan to start.
brainrob: No ... in fact, the opposite appears to be true.
Debate: YES
Culvan: That question is rather leading, to the point of sounding like a statement of opinion, but I'll take the bait anyway: No. The amount of religious belief in society has varied widely throughout the ages (let's say the last 2000 years), and from one society to another. I think the intelligence of people within those societies, over that time period, has remained relatively constant. While some major religious institutions have had the effect of limiting freedom of thought, others embrace it. Intelligence is not affected in any case -- even extreme measures like the Inquisition don't make people less intelligent, they just require people not to apply that intelligence in forbidden directions (or to do so secretly). Non-religious institutions can have similar effects, both positive and negative.
Stephen Glenn: Religious beliefs have nothing to do with intelligence.
Kazin: Weeee, generalisations!
confuse_a_cat: It's unclear what you are referring to when you speak of religious belief. Atheists have religious belief, in the sense that they have thoughts about the nature of reality. A man who says that God exists and the man who says that God does not exists both have religious beliefs.
beakermyers: No, but I don't believe in a higher power.
Windmilling: Although I am not "religious," I believe that such a question belittles our friends who are, and put this into the inappropriate questions category for intelligent discourse.
djlg: Generally, yes.
Loquutus: Absolutely.
Tailuje: Nope; I think they're entirely complementary
GI Joe: Not at all. Throughout history, the world's finest minds have also been theologians and philosophers, all with strong religious beliefs.
ssmooth: Not at all
SteveK2: No
dbmurph22: This is an overly-simplistic, unintelligent statement. Now the only question is: are you religious?
chaddyboy_2000: Totally not a cool question, man.
skelebone: I do believe something like that, but it's not true.
puffinge: You are really trying to cause trouble with your generally true statements, aren't you?
jttm: No, but beliefs have a way of blinding the obvious.
heli: there are many forms of intelligence -- which do you have in mind?
CDRodeffer: No.
CortexBomb: I know more people who fit the mold than don't, but I still think it's a dangerous generalization to make
sos1: No
Lord_Prussian: no