Earlier this month, Personality and Social Psychology Review
published an article
titled, “The Relation Between Intelligence and Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis and
Some Proposed Explanations,” which concluded that religious people are less
intelligent than atheists.
According to the Huffington
Post, lead author Professor Miron Zuckerman of the University of Rochester
and team drew from sixty-three scientific studies going back to 1928 to form
their conclusion.
For purposes of
the study, intelligence was defined as the “ability to reason, plan, solve
problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn
from experience.”
Well, that sounds
like a pretty good definition. I won’t quibble about it.
And I won’t even
quibble about the focus on what the authors call “religiosity,” which is
defined as “involvement in some (or all) facets of religion, which includes
belief in the supernatural, offering gifts to this supernatural, and performing
rituals affirming their beliefs” although I know for a fact there’s a marked
difference between someone like myself—who professes to have a personal
relationship with Jesus—and someone who is merely “religious.” (Go ahead and
get mad if you disagree. That’s your prerogative.)
But I’ll say
this. While reading the various reviews of the study, two things immediately
come to mind.
The first is 2
Timothy 3: 7, in which Paul describes a type of person in the last days who is
“always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
The second is the
song "Fool
For You," by Nicole Nordeman, which contains the lyrics:
I’d be a fool for you Oh because you asked me to
A simpleton who’s seemingly naïve
I do believe
You came and made yourself a fool for me
So, while
there may be those who think they've got "religious folks" like
myself all figured out, they haven’t.
And I honestly don’t care who thinks
I’m less than bright for wanting to “chant a dead man’s name” or for believing
that he can “walk on waves,” to quote two other lines from Nordeman’s song. So be it.
It’s an
interesting study, though.
Oh, well. I am not at all surprised...by neither: the study, nor its conclusion. Love the song!
ReplyDelete"Love the song!"
DeleteHa ha. Nordeman is one of my favorites.
Hilarious and ridiculous. Are we to conclude that Galileo? Einstein? Copernicus? Tolkien, C.S Lewis, Chekov et al were not very bright! Keep walking on waves sister.
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