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God makes you stupid, researchers claim
News by NorlanderA psychology researcher has controversially claimed that stupidity is causally linked to how likely people are to believe in God.

University of Ulster professor Richard Lynn will draw the conclusion in new research due to be published in the journal Intelligence, the Times Higher Education Supplement reports.

Lynn and his two co-authors argue that average IQ is an excellent predictor of what proportion of the population are true believers, across 137 countries. They also cite surveys of the US Academy of Sciences and UK Royal Academy showing single-digit rates of religious belief among academics.

That professional skeptics don't believe in a creator is perhaps not all that surprising. Lynn argues, however, that it is their intelligence that directly gives rise to the boffinated classes' non-God-bothering tendencies. He said: "Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ. Academics have higher IQs than the general population."

Lynn pointed out that most children do believe in God, but as their intelligence develops they tend to have doubts or reject religion. Similarly, as average IQ in Western societies increased through the 20th century, so did rates of atheism, he said.

The researchers' claims of a direct causal link have drawn criticism from others in intelligence research, who argue their conclusions are too simplistic. London Metropolitan University's Dr David Hardman said: "It is very difficult to conduct true experiments that would explicate a causal relationship between IQ and religious belief. Nonetheless, there is evidence from other domains that higher levels of intelligence are associated with a greater ability - or perhaps willingness - to question and overturn strongly felt intuitions."

Link
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Surely a controversial claim, but it will be interesting to see his statistical data for this claim.

Comments
Norlander on June 12 2008 16:34:56
Richard Lynn has a history of controversial claims on racial and gender differences and these will surely be used against him on this issue.
Jan Michelsen on June 13 2008 09:33:08
Yeah, Richard Lynn sure is a respected and serious scientist smiley
Vuzman on June 13 2008 10:01:37
Unless he's been shown to deliberately forge his findings to support a racist claim, then I think we should at least give consideration.

His claim that different races have different IQs - Asians having the highest, and then Europeans, Latinos, Africans and Aboriginals (simplified) - is certainly true; this is an observation, and it has been made cross-culturally. The claim that this is due to genetic differences is disputed, however, since different races have different circumstances, even when they live in the same or similar cultures.

I would also like to point out that claiming that black people generally have lower IQs than white people is not racist. It becomes racist if you use the claim to posit that the races have different worth; i.e. by treating the races differently or suggesting that they should be treated differently.
Jogvanth on June 13 2008 14:17:18
How can it be racist, if its true?

If it's scientifically proven that black people have lower IQ's than Asians and Europeans and that black people have greater physical abilities and stamina than Asians and Europeans, how can it be deemed racist to point this out?
If it's a proven fact, then I wouldn't even call it racist if all intellectually demanding positions where filled with Asians and Europeans, while all the athletic teams where filled with black people, as well as black people being given all of the physically demanding jobs.
Norlander on June 14 2008 03:13:11
Well that wouldn't work Thomsen.

You need to understand that this is an IQ average, and since it's an average you have people that are both far above and far below it.

There are plenty of black people that are smarter then the average European. Just as there are plenty of Europeans that are in better physical shape then the average African.
Jan Michelsen on June 14 2008 12:22:21
hmm is it racist if you want to kill off, oh i'm sorry "phase out" all lower cultures? smiley
Norlander on June 18 2008 00:09:03
If it's a proven fact, then I wouldn't even call it racist if all intellectually demanding positions where filled with Asians and Europeans, while all the athletic teams where filled with black people, as well as black people being given all of the physically demanding jobs.


Apart from the whole racism issue this statement cannot be in tune with your otherwise libertarian views...
Jogvanth on June 18 2008 15:57:23
Above statement was written only to provoke a response and does not represent my view on the subject smiley

But the article does raise some questions in the 'who's better suited for what job' department. But I'll refrain from that topic for the time being.
Roffen on June 24 2008 17:45:32
I have a tiny dilemma... no, not that one! smiley

'You are black, so you are stupid and poor' If this statement was proven true, would it still racist or 'just' another impolite fact ?

'Quote: I'm not racist, I hate everybody equally' Somebody I know.
Boddin on June 24 2008 19:19:04
This was on the news today.

Helmuth Nyborg: Religiøse folk er dummest
Laluu on June 24 2008 20:30:00
I have seen articles about this topic in a variety of places, but now it has finally arrived on olivant. They cite an article in "Kristeligt Dagblad" and this passage really struck me:

Morten Warmind, átrúnaðarsosiologur, er ikki samdur við niðurstøðuna av kanningini.
- Vit vita, at tey, ið eru sera gudrøkin, ofta eru sera evnagóð - óivað tí­ at tað krevur eitt sinnisligt yvirskot at velja ein religiøsan livihátt, sigur Morten Warmind. Hann ásannar, at tað er eitt samband í­ millum vit og átrúnaður, men at tað illa ber til at máta tey, so sum Helmut nyborg og Richard Lynd gera.


OK... so this person seems to think that it requires a certain mental capacity (more than e.g. being an atheist?) to be a christian in the Faroe Islands or a sunni muslim Saudi Arabia.
Roffen on June 28 2008 20:45:30
my 2 cents are that no matter how religious or atheist you are.. does nothing to your intelligence not vice versa.
That some people are manipulative and ego-centric and mange to pull a crowd in their favorable direction has nothing to do with religion. Some people use it as means to their ends.
These people are in all classes of society.
Needless to say, you can't pull a general IQ-string through a group of people and label them all. Unless you're doing it at MIT! smiley
Roffen on June 28 2008 20:46:42
typo in 2nd line: *nor vice versa.
Norlander on July 16 2008 11:42:45
Unge bliver mere religiøse
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Obituaries
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Grizlas
24/12/2023 15:06
Gleðilig jól

Norlander
24/12/2023 10:09
Gleðilig jól!

Norlander
29/10/2023 19:16
:/

Grizlas
29/10/2023 11:35
RIP Matthew Perry.

Norlander
25/08/2023 19:22
That's not from the chess scene, it's Omar to Wee Bay, 2 mins into this clip: https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=LF0Xt6b525E


Vuzman
25/08/2023 18:11
That chess scene is forever seared into my memory...

Norlander
24/08/2023 20:03
You quoting the Wire, wow smiley

Vuzman
24/08/2023 08:56
You come at the king, you best not miss... RIP Prigozhin

OKJones
10/08/2023 21:29
the search function doesn't work, it doesn't show what it finds

Vuzman
10/08/2023 16:34
RIP Sugar Man