Does being religious mean that you are unintelligent?

Question

I don’t see how you can claim to be religious and also claim to be intelligent. Spirituality has no scientific backing at all. I’m almost certain that most spiritualistic people could never understand even the most basic scientific discoveries, let alone complex ones.

Answer 1

AEther

Xper 5

no.
it's always surprising to me, but i know several intelligent christians. christian scientists even! who certainly understand complex scientific discoveries. and i know a great many atheists who are thick as mince.

but don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not speaking in any defense of religion. I view it to be a fundamentally harmful affliction that very certainly correlates to a dimming of the mind.
but just in the same way that when christian's say "Well, [insert the name of any famous scientist from before the mid 20th century here] believed in god, so it must be right", is frivolous fallacy, since the person in question was raised in a world wild cult where challenging it would be nipped in the bud at a young age, and there were no more compelling explanations to the creation of stuff provided. there are still people who are raised in that same cult today who's belief is not down to their own decision of intelligent.

the problem is not so much the faith in the unseen as it is everything else of the religion that encompasses it.
belief in the unproveable itself is at worst a bit silly, but not of itself unintelligent. after all, the big bang might explain the manner by which everything came from nothing, but not really HOW everything came from nothing. to conclude that there was some sort of consciousness involved, is a bit silly and unfounded, but not a problem of itself.

the problem is all the other doctrine and dogma, the things that fundamentally contradict the way things are, like genesis stuff. and the stuff that's internally contradictory or illogical, like the core concepts of the sacrifice, or ideas of god being perfectly good, while also mass murdering children all through the bible.
the only answer to these questions is, "turn your brain off and do what you're told."

the solutions to these problems are; to find ways to force it and ensure that actually it DOES make sense, to turn of your mind to anything that doesn't quite fit and just be blind to the problems, and to let your mind be further dulled and warped into the right shape for the parasite of religion to live in, OR to deprogram and get the hell out of there.
the choice might seem obvious. and it might be an easy one for some. but deconvertion can be for many an extremely traumatic ordeal, to have to come to terms with the fact that you're whole life, your connections to the people you love, and the meaning all of life itself, have all been a cruel joke. it's not an easy thing to accept.

so yes. to be religious is an "unintelligent" thing, but that is not to say that all those who are religious are unintelligent.

hate the religion, not the religious.

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Answer 2

lightbulb27 | 295 opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.

Master

What kind of intelligence.. for there are many kinds?

not related... I've met highly intelligent people who are religious and seen people who are not religous, but very intelligent.

I think religion is more to do with the heart (at least Christianity) to give up on self in favor of belief in something that cannot be seen, but can be related to by emotion. Submission to a higher power. Can't speak for other religions. We all have to wrestle with where did we begin, where are we going, why am I here, and how should I behave, what is going on? Religion addresses these.

Science... how could scientists believe in atoms when they could not see them? They had some evidence... and took a leap of faith there is something else. They peel the onion on that... and now they are into quarks and who knows what. Now they find how these things can interact over distance... This all indicates there is something more than we cannot see.

Why is it so hard to have faith in something not seen? Why is it so hard to trust the witness of others?

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Asker

1 y
Only high IQ people can be intelligent. All other forms of intelligence are worthless because they don’t progress our society. A guy who knows how to talk to people is far less important than a guy who can recreate an atmosphere on Mars or code the latest and greatest cryptocurrency.

Just because we are not certain about how we ended up on this planet doesn’t mean that there is some supernatural explanation to it. The ancient Aztecs believed that when a solar eclipses happens, they must sacrifice someone at the top of the pyramid in order to please their god. Turns out that solar eclipses are a natural experience that happens because of a moment of almost perfect alignment between the sun and the moon.

The existence of atoms has be theorized for centuries. Matter had to me accumulated somehow, and therefore scientists sought after the answer. Nothing spiritualistic in sight.

Why is it hard to have faith in something not seen? Because of the people who are preaching about it. It’s mostly low IQ or average IQ people who barely understand basic physics concepts saying that they know more than some of the most intelligent people on earth. Spirituality would break all laws of physics and thermodynamics that were previously defined. All matter on this earth follows those scientific laws, yet the existence of some higher power doesn’t?
lightbulb27

1 y
So someone like Winston Churchill prob not smartest, but orators can add a lot of value. People with high emotional intelligence may be high functioning in business and such. But sure, someone with engineering prowess can change our world technically. We advance technically but if don't evolve as human beings... that is emotional beings, we so easily can destroy ourselves with the technology... like nukes, etc..
aztecs were correlating their action to something result. not so bright leaders.
What is matter though but energy? Is not all energy? Is it all light?
So what are humans... but energy contained in a vessel of mostly water. We are energy and light, right? scientifically speaking.
So Jesus said "God" is love. What is that? Love is an emotion. An emotion is "energy that is in motion" within us that vibrates at a given frequency such that we have an experience in our being.
Soooo... all Jesus is saying is that to relate to "God" you do that via "love". Is that so complex? I understand it and I ain't that bright. The challenge here is God is not some logical thing or equation for if they were, man would put their thumb on and control god. That be bad.
Aren't those laws being re-valuated via quantum physics? We don't know how this thing works. Quantum entangelment, etc.. I just read blurbs about this... no expert. It's enough to say..."we don't understand". I think you are minimizing people who have high emotion to being low IQ. To me, the ability to use empathy to tune into another living beings emotional state is of high order. Ability to heal, be another, ability to see future. Thats all well demonstrated such that doesn't take faith. Govt is studying how it works... seeing the future. right?
That said, spiritual can go in many bad directions in human beings, that true.
Asker

1 y
You mean the racist Winston Churchill who barely did anything except appeal to the masses? That Winston Churchill? Yeah, great example man.

People with high emotional intelligence are good at communicating with other people. It’s a great skill to gain power, but to actually accomplish something, it’s not so great. High IQ people who engineer the world around us have a far greater importance. Most humans are too dumb to understand their work, yet they create the world around us. You are right about one thing though. Emotions truly are a great weakness among humans, however people who know how to deal with emotions aren’t as important as people with high IQs. I don’t understand your Aztec explanation, so you’ll have to explain that more.

Matter and energy are two different things. Matter uses energy, but they are not one and the same. Humans have the ability to store and use energy, however we don’t have light. We would be glowing in the dark if we were able to store light... so I don’t understand where you get that from.

Once you started talking about love, you went into the pseudoscience area, which is incredibly gray and unproven. Emotions are a result of chemical reactions in our brain. Energy is released, I’m sure, but it’s not in the way you put it.

We don’t know how it works YET. That’s the important thing. In due time, we will figure it out. Generally speaking, those with lower IQ scores tend to be more emotional and those who are more emotional tend to care more about emotional concepts rather than logical ones because it’s easier for them. That isn’t to say that high IQ can’t feel any emotions, that’s just to say that high IQ people usually prioritize more logical things. Seeing the future... I don’t even know why I’m continuing to argue against something so silly. Let me know when you unlock the Sharingan. The world needs to go into an Infinite Tsukiyomi. Too many bad things are happening.
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lightbulb27

1 y
I'm not high IQ, but graduaed top of my class.. just by hard work... not brain power. No point expanding upon thoughts, these discussions lead to more discourse. I do need to study upon my "energy" and physics. I read blurbs here and there. Jesus said "you are made of light". Was he wrong or do we not know for sure? I found Jesus to be highly emotionally intelligent.. for a stone worker to boot. He understood the human condition and devised a solution (or thosearound him did). That's serious brain power! Doubt a team of high IQ people could do that... be a good challenge.

I don't know the answer to your question. I've seen people that are "mensa" or look intelligent to me, assumably higher IQ, who believe and some who don't. I think it's a heart matter that requires letting go of the self. But whether they meet your definition, don't know.

Doesn't it stand to reason that brains are allocated different ways... some more logical, some more emotional. To find a very balanced person with strong on both sides seems rare... impossible. Are high IQ people by definition, not as emotionally attuned? What % were hurt children who lacked emotional development and so clung to their source of life... logic, books, the intellect?

We've gone off the trail of your question by getting into emotion, but my point is that I learned to value human emotion and those that have empathy, love, understanding. If I'm having surgery, I want highly technical/logical skill for sure... not emotional. If I need emotional healing and connction, I want someone with empathy. They are different skills, both value.

Human emotion + high tech innovation I would say is a disaster in the making. Possibly the "knowledge of good and evil" the Bible speaks of.

Answer 3

Asker

Only high IQ people can be intelligent. All other forms of intelligence are worthless because they don’t progress our society. A guy who knows how to talk to people is far less important than a guy who can recreate an atmosphere on Mars or code the latest and greatest cryptocurrency.

Just because we are not certain about how we ended up on this planet doesn’t mean that there is some supernatural explanation to it. The ancient Aztecs believed that when a solar eclipses happens, they must sacrifice someone at the top of the pyramid in order to please their god. Turns out that solar eclipses are a natural experience that happens because of a moment of almost perfect alignment between the sun and the moon.

The existence of atoms has be theorized for centuries. Matter had to me accumulated somehow, and therefore scientists sought after the answer. Nothing spiritualistic in sight.

Why is it hard to have faith in something not seen? Because of the people who are preaching about it. It’s mostly low IQ or average IQ people who barely understand basic physics concepts saying that they know more than some of the most intelligent people on earth. Spirituality would break all laws of physics and thermodynamics that were previously defined. All matter on this earth follows those scientific laws, yet the existence of some higher power doesn’t?

Answer 4

lightbulb27

So someone like Winston Churchill prob not smartest, but orators can add a lot of value. People with high emotional intelligence may be high functioning in business and such. But sure, someone with engineering prowess can change our world technically. We advance technically but if don't evolve as human beings... that is emotional beings, we so easily can destroy ourselves with the technology... like nukes, etc..
aztecs were correlating their action to something result. not so bright leaders.
What is matter though but energy? Is not all energy? Is it all light?
So what are humans... but energy contained in a vessel of mostly water. We are energy and light, right? scientifically speaking.
So Jesus said "God" is love. What is that? Love is an emotion. An emotion is "energy that is in motion" within us that vibrates at a given frequency such that we have an experience in our being.
Soooo... all Jesus is saying is that to relate to "God" you do that via "love". Is that so complex? I understand it and I ain't that bright. The challenge here is God is not some logical thing or equation for if they were, man would put their thumb on and control god. That be bad.
Aren't those laws being re-valuated via quantum physics? We don't know how this thing works. Quantum entangelment, etc.. I just read blurbs about this... no expert. It's enough to say..."we don't understand". I think you are minimizing people who have high emotion to being low IQ. To me, the ability to use empathy to tune into another living beings emotional state is of high order. Ability to heal, be another, ability to see future. Thats all well demonstrated such that doesn't take faith. Govt is studying how it works... seeing the future. right?
That said, spiritual can go in many bad directions in human beings, that true.

Answer 5

Asker

You mean the racist Winston Churchill who barely did anything except appeal to the masses? That Winston Churchill? Yeah, great example man.

People with high emotional intelligence are good at communicating with other people. It’s a great skill to gain power, but to actually accomplish something, it’s not so great. High IQ people who engineer the world around us have a far greater importance. Most humans are too dumb to understand their work, yet they create the world around us. You are right about one thing though. Emotions truly are a great weakness among humans, however people who know how to deal with emotions aren’t as important as people with high IQs. I don’t understand your Aztec explanation, so you’ll have to explain that more.

Matter and energy are two different things. Matter uses energy, but they are not one and the same. Humans have the ability to store and use energy, however we don’t have light. We would be glowing in the dark if we were able to store light... so I don’t understand where you get that from.

Once you started talking about love, you went into the pseudoscience area, which is incredibly gray and unproven. Emotions are a result of chemical reactions in our brain. Energy is released, I’m sure, but it’s not in the way you put it.

We don’t know how it works YET. That’s the important thing. In due time, we will figure it out. Generally speaking, those with lower IQ scores tend to be more emotional and those who are more emotional tend to care more about emotional concepts rather than logical ones because it’s easier for them. That isn’t to say that high IQ can’t feel any emotions, that’s just to say that high IQ people usually prioritize more logical things. Seeing the future... I don’t even know why I’m continuing to argue against something so silly. Let me know when you unlock the Sharingan. The world needs to go into an Infinite Tsukiyomi. Too many bad things are happening.

Answer 6

lightbulb27

I'm not high IQ, but graduaed top of my class.. just by hard work... not brain power. No point expanding upon thoughts, these discussions lead to more discourse. I do need to study upon my "energy" and physics. I read blurbs here and there. Jesus said "you are made of light". Was he wrong or do we not know for sure? I found Jesus to be highly emotionally intelligent.. for a stone worker to boot. He understood the human condition and devised a solution (or thosearound him did). That's serious brain power! Doubt a team of high IQ people could do that... be a good challenge.

I don't know the answer to your question. I've seen people that are "mensa" or look intelligent to me, assumably higher IQ, who believe and some who don't. I think it's a heart matter that requires letting go of the self. But whether they meet your definition, don't know.

Doesn't it stand to reason that brains are allocated different ways... some more logical, some more emotional. To find a very balanced person with strong on both sides seems rare... impossible. Are high IQ people by definition, not as emotionally attuned? What % were hurt children who lacked emotional development and so clung to their source of life... logic, books, the intellect?

We've gone off the trail of your question by getting into emotion, but my point is that I learned to value human emotion and those that have empathy, love, understanding. If I'm having surgery, I want highly technical/logical skill for sure... not emotional. If I need emotional healing and connction, I want someone with empathy. They are different skills, both value.

Human emotion + high tech innovation I would say is a disaster in the making. Possibly the "knowledge of good and evil" the Bible speaks of.

Answer 7

CountessSarah | 1.2K opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.

Guru

Mmm. Not necessarily.
There are certainly many, many dumb theists. I've spoken to so many I can't count.

However, I do not believe all theists are dumb. Only that they have been deceived by charlatans and bad arguments that are designed to be as deceptive as possible to an otherwise intelligent individual. Being wrong about a particular idea, such as whether a god exists or not, doesn't make the person stupid, it's to what extent their minds are tangled in nonsense arguments.

People who use things like Pascals Wager or use the 'You secretly DO believe!' attitude are indeed stupid. These sorts of people are the bottom of the barrel who, if they didn't have the religion that they do, would have ended up believing something even more ridiculous. They can't be helped. These theists are usually the most vocal and the ones you encounter most frequently.

Smarter theists tend to be more moderate, and will at least acknowledge when they're at odds with something in their holy book, and see the obvious flaws in a lot of theist arguments, which is why they tend to be less likely to engage atheists and we don't see them quite so often.

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Answer 8

IronLady6354

Explorer

Here's a list of people who were/are both highly intelligent and devout to faith (that I can think of off the top of my head)
1) Sir Isaac Newton
2) Charles Dickens
3) Jane Austin
4) Victor Hugo
5) Francis Collins
6) John Jay
So I'd say being religious does not mean you're unintelligent

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Answer 9

jennifer_bloom | 733 opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.

Influencer

I know religious people with two Ivy League degrees in STEM and they are more religious than their friends who made only minimum wage

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Answer 10

behnam1999 | 73 opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.

Xper 7

Intelligence has nothing to do with being religious and non-religious... and if you want to say science is against religion, I have to say you're wrong.. Science can never prove God nor disprove it, it can never say there is a hereafter or not!! And the fact is, science has nothing to say in these issues, science is nothing but what comes from human five senses.. If you can measure something you can do science on it, you can only do science on things which are in the range of your human senses, whether directly or indirectly and of course humans make mistakes, that's why theories keep being debunked and changed!! Whether there is a world beyond this material world or not is not the work of science to discover and how can you say there's not? Because both logic and philosophy says there is.

Plus, we have lots of intelligent scientists who believed in the existence of God and a religion!! Are you saying you are more intelligent than them because you don't believe in religion? If so, that's arrogance. And arrogance is even worse than being dumb!!

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Answer 11

JackSmy

Guru

LOL!!! Sooo many fools, like you, THAT TOTALLY MISS THE POINT OF RELIGION!!
So focused in "Science" and "Proving" that you ignore the other things, that make Religion mean so much, to so many!!
I have tried to explain this, several times before, but some, are to ROCK-HEADED to understand that Religion and Science, are NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE!!!
Many great scientists, have been very religious, understanding the way they relate, and don't.
I could explain further, but I doubt you can understand, so I won't waste my time.
Search it, on here (the magnifying glass, on the tool bar, by the word "SEARCH" dumbass!!), and find my past posts, and OPEN YOUR MIND!!

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Answer 12

Wade8888 | 226 opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.

Xper 6

I believe in God and I have a base I. Q. of 145 +10/-11.

Isaac Newton believed in God, and he had an I. Q. of about 220.

Most scientific discoveries in human history were contributed by either Christians or Jews, and most Nobel winners were either Christians or Jews.

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Asker

1 y
And they found evidence contradicting their hardcore beliefs.
Asker

1 y
There is a reason Stephen Hawkins said there is no god.
Wade8888

1 y
Stephen Hawking is dead. There's a reason Stephen Hawking is dead.
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Asker

1 y
You believe he’s dead because a divine being wanted him dead?

Answer 13

Asker

And they found evidence contradicting their hardcore beliefs.

Answer 14

Asker

There is a reason Stephen Hawkins said there is no god.

Answer 15

Wade8888

Stephen Hawking is dead. There's a reason Stephen Hawking is dead.

Answer 16

Asker

You believe he’s dead because a divine being wanted him dead?

Answer 17

genericname85 | 2.6K opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.

Master

i'm not religious or spirital. i think that's stupid. however think about solving a rubics cube. there's a easy system you can look up online that makes you solve the cube 100%. however that's boring so in that example the ignorance is the challenge and the fun about it. sometimes intentionally not doing things right gives life some spice.

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Answer 18

babadolulu

Xper 4

I am an atheist but i have never said unintelligent or idiot etc. to believers or religious people. Because we have freewill and we can make a choice we want using freewill. No one can judge the people who believe or do not believe for their choice.

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Answer 19

pingiluv | 102 opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.

Yoda

If anything, my science career has helped my spirituality even more

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Answer 20

docdetective

Xper 2

Nope. Only the people that can’t understand that religious people are intelligent are unintelligent.

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Answer 21

Anonymous

Many geniuses throughout history were religious. I am an atheist myself but I don't agree with you on this

Alfred Einstein believed in religion

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Answer 22

Agape93 | 1.9K opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.

Master

Not inherently no. But a good number of folks are

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Does being religious mean that you are unintelligent?

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