Reaction to IQ study

Here's a curious thing: the IQ by Miron Zuckerman that I put up yesterday (part 2 is coming tomorrow) has really stoked atheists. Blog Called RT: Question More, August 13, in their article "Atheists smarter than religious believers--study" says "Religious people are likely to be less intelligent than their atheist counterparts, a study claims. The analysis, which looked at almost a century of data, found a negative correlation between high IQs and religiosity." It doesn't actually say that. It says there's a stronger correlation between being non religious and scoring higher on an IQ test. Of the three explainations it gives none of them say "religious people are stupid."

Many of the comments are fair,. some funny: "

B 15.08.2013 06:35

"No, it's that those into religion don't have the time to study as much as atheists. There is NO inherent greater intelligence to atheists this is just propaganda."

they don't have time? what would religious people have any less time than anyone else? I guess doubt isn't time consuming.

Padraig MacGairbhigh 18.08.2013 23:35

I believe it could be that these people have been over exposed to less mature expressions of religious faith.
Check out James Fowler's work on Faith Development.

That's good that he's capable of distinguishing between types of religious thinking. I must check out Fowler.

$t0pC3n$0r3$h1p 17.08.2013 02:26

didn't really need a study for something so ridiculously obvious :/

 What is obvious? That there's a correlation between unbelief and IQ scores? how would you know that without a study? I think IQ scores have to be researched. That religious people are stupid? that's not the finding. That atheists are smarter? That's not the finding.

Benjamin Gagnon 16.08.2013 14:33

I would have thought that agnostics would be the smartest of all if this study has any merit whatsoever. They are the only ones who can admit they don't know. Atheists are just as intolerant as believers most of the time.

 everyone knows.

sarah carswell 14.08.2013 20:40

Are Athiests so arrogant that they can start publishing bogus studies like this and think that anyone would actually take this seriously? The misreprentations are not "stumbling blocks", they actually nullify the entire research. Disappointed to see this garbage on RT.

 It's not a bogus study and the people who did it are not amateurs. The misrepresentations? what? It's not garbage it's a good study, the findings of which I dispute. People are so ready to make brash statements. Unfortunately here it's not the atheists making them.

An article in National Review, Jason Richwine

August 16, 2013 1:23 PM

"how Not to interpret that Religion and IQ study"

 The authors conducted a “meta-analysis” (essentially a combination of lots of past studies) to show that there is a moderately negative correlation (r = -0.24) between religious belief and IQ among individuals. In other words, the smarter a person is, the less likely he is to have a strong religious faith.

The study itself is careful and dispassionate, but the reaction from the atheist corner of the Internet has been predictable: If smarter people tend to be atheists, then atheism is probably “correct,” right? No. Read the full study, which discusses several competing theories for why the negative correlation exists. Let me give my own two cents as to why correlating various beliefs with IQ cannot tell us whether those beliefs are true.

 As long as smarter people are more likely to even question traditions such as religious belief, then full-blown rejection of religion will almost inevitably be correlated with higher IQ, even if a majority of smart people still affirm religious belief.

 Tomorrow in part 2 I think I do a bang up job of showing why IQ tests don't measure intelligence and what they do measure in relation to atheists.


The Independent: "Religious People are less Intelligent..."
 Rob Williams, 12 August, 2013.


 The Independent says "A new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades has concluded that religious people are less intelligent than non-believers."

According to the study entitled, 'The Relation Between Intelligence and Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis and Some Proposed Explanations', published in the 'Personality and Social Psychology Review', even during early years the more intelligent a child is the more likely it would be to turn away from religion.
In old age above average intelligence people are less likely to believe, the researchers also found.

 None of those are true statements. No finding of the study said religious people are less intelligent. Nothing in the study talks about turning away from religion. Nothing defines "turning away." Those who are not religious are not defined as "turning away" but not believing. They could all go to chruch and not believe. A sharp distinction is made between chruch going and believing. The study does not conclude that older unbeliever are more likely to stay unbelievers. Counter studies how people grow more religious as the get older. That is still true. This statement: "even during early years the more intelligent a child is the more likely it would be to turn away from religion," Williams calls "proposed explanation," but the same as what he calls findings.

There's a lot of confusion being generated. Most people are just not careful readers. Turn in tomorrow and check out part 2 of my critique.