Thursday, June 12, 2008

High IQ correlated with atheism

A UK newspaper reports:
Professor Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at Ulster University, said many more members of the "intellectual elite" considered themselves atheists than the national average.

A decline in religious observance over the last century was directly linked to a rise in average intelligence, he claimed.

Professor Lynn said most primary school children believed in God, but as they entered adolescence - and their intelligence increased - many started to have doubts.

He told Times Higher Education magazine: "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. Several Gallup poll studies of the general population have shown that those with higher IQs tend not to believe in God."

He said religious belief had declined across 137 developed nations in the 20th century at the same time as people became more intelligent.
Or maybe atheism is causing people to be more intelligent.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonder what Andy would say about that

Anonymous said...

I wonder what Roger would say about the various statistics which show correlation between standard IQ scores and standard cannabis use.

Roger said...

I would guess that smoking dope makes people stupid, but I haven't seen the studies.