In article <bef7459c-69b7-4865-a6ca-
149bd060589a@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, flakey714@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
says...
> On May 7, 2:07=A0pm, Budikka666 <budik...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > Creationism is bad enough as it is, abusing hard-working scientists
> > and trying every underhand method they can dig up to LIE to children
> > as in this example of their behavior over the so-called "academic
> > freedom" bill in Florida
(atwww.pandasthumb.org:http://tinyurl.com/4ahx=
f2
> >
> > But one all-too-often overlooked effect of their determined ignorance
> > and stupidity is children dying as these two blogs
address:www.scienceb=
logs.com/drugmonkeyhttp://tinyurl.com/4et2m9
> > andwww.scienceblogs.com/insolence/http://tinyurl.com/3l4ezk
> >
> > If you let yourself be dragged down by ignorance of science and blind
> > belief in antiquated mythology, you will pay the price, sooner or
> > later. =A0If it's not you, it'll be your children.
> >
> > Budikka
>=20
> The more one becomes educated, the less the find the need for
> imaginary sky fairys and pseudo-science to explain how the world and
> the universe really operates.
> But then some people are just born terminal dumb *****.
> I could name several in here
>=20
Intelligence and religious beliefs - statistics
The following is a review of several studies of IQ and religiosity,=20
parts of this page are paraphrased and summarized by Jim Tims, from=20
Burnham Beckwith's article, "The Effect of Intelligence on Religious=20
Faith," Free Inquiry, Spring 1986.
STUDIES OF STUDENTS
1. Thomas Howells, 1927
Study of 461 students showed religiously conservative students "are, in=20
general, relatively inferior in intellectual ability."
2. Hilding Carlsojn, 1933
Study of 215 students showed that "there is a tendency for the more=20
intelligent undergraduate to be sympathetic toward=3D3F atheism."
3. Abraham Franzblau, 1934
Confirming Howells and Carlson, tested 354 Jewish children, aged 10-16.=20
Found a negative correlation between religiosity and IQ as measured by=20
the Terman intelligence test.
4. Thomas Symington, 1935
Tested 400 young people in colleges and church groups. He re****ted,=20
"There is a constant positive relation in all the groups between
liberal=20
religious thinking and mental ability=3D3F There is also a constant
positiv=
e=20
relation between liberal scores and intelligence=3D3F"
5. Vernon Jones, 1938
Tested 381 students, concluding "a slight tendency for intelligence and=20
liberal attitudes to go together."
6. A. R. Gilliland, 1940
At variance with all other studies, found "little or no relation****p=20
between intelligence and attitude toward god."
7. Donald Gragg, 1942
Re****ted an inverse correlation between 100 ACE freshman test scores
and=20
Thurstone "reality of god" scores.
8. Brown and Love, 1951
At the University of Denver, tested 613 male and female students. The=20
mean test scores of non-believers was 119 points, and for believers it=20
was 100. The non-believers ranked in the 80th percentile, and believers=20
in the 50th. Their findings "strongly corroborate those of Howells."
9. Michael Argyle, 1958
Concluded that "although intelligent children grasp religious concepts=20
earlier, they are also the first to doubt the truth of religion, and=20
intelligent students are much less likely to accept orthodox beliefs."
10. Jeffrey Hadden, 1963
Found no correlation between intelligence and grades. This was an=20
anomalous finding, since GPA corresponds closely with intelligence.=20
Other factors may have influenced the results at the University of=20
Wisconsin.
11. Young, Dustin and Holtzman, 1966
Average religiosity decreased as GPA rose.
12. James Trent, 1967
Polled 1400 college seniors. Found little difference, but high-ability=20
students in his sample group were over-represented.
13. C. Plant and E. Minium, 1967
The more intelligent students were less religious, both before entering=20
college and after 2 years of college.
14. Robert Wuthnow, 1978
Of 532 students, 37 percent of Christians, 58 percent of apostates, and=20
53 percent of non-religious scored above average on SATs.
15. Hastings and Hoge, 1967, 1974
Polled 200 college students and found no significant correlations.
16. Norman Poythress, 1975
Mean SATs for strongly antireligious (1148), moderately anti-religious=20
(1119), slightly antireligious (1108), and religious (1022).
17. Wiebe and Fleck, 1980
Studied 158 male and female Canadian university students. They re****ted=20
"nonreligious S's tended to be strongly intelligent" and "more=20
intelligent than religious S's."
Others :=20
Pratt (1937) among 3040 students at regional state college, taking=20
denomenational affiliation as sign of religiocity, "found that non-
affiliates recorded lower mean scores on the American council=20
Examination than any students affiliated to any denomenational group."
Francis (1979)(using fequency of prayer and chruch attendence) 2272=20
school children between 9-11,"found no relation****p between school=20
assigned IQ's and religious behavior after controling for paternal=20
social class."
Francis'('86 replication) findings replicated in second study among
6955=20
students.
STUDENT BODY COMPARISONS
1. Rose Goldsen, 1952
Percentage of students who believe in a divine god: Harvard 30; UCLA
32;=20
Dartmouth 35; Yale 36; Cornell 42; Wayne 43; Weslyan 43; Michigan 45;=20
Fisk 60; Texas 62; North Carolina 68.
2. National Review Study, 1970
Percentage of students who believe in a Spirit or Divine God: Reed 15;=20
Brandeis 25; Sarah Lawrence 28; Williams 36; Stanford 41; Boston U. 41;=20
Yale 42; Howard 47; Indiana 57; Davidson 59; S. Carolina 65; Marquette=20
77.
[Marquette is a religious school]
3. Caplovitz and Sherrow, 1977
Apostasy rates rose continuously from 5 percent in "low" ranked schools=20
to 17 percent in "high" ranked schools.=20
4. Niemi, Ross, and Alexander, 1978
In elite schools, organized religion was judged im****tant by only 26=20
percent of their students, compared with 44 percent of all students.
STUDIES OF VERY-HIGH IQ GROUPS
1. Terman, 1959
Studied group with IQ's over 140. Of men, 10 percent held strong=20
religious belief, of women 18 percent. Sixty-two percent of men and 57=20
percent of women claimed "little religious inclination" while 28
percent=20
of the men and 23 percent of the women claimed it was "not at all=20
im****tant."
2. Warren and Heist, 1960
Found no differences among National Merit Scholars. Results may have=20
been effected by the fact that NM scholars are not selected on the
basis=20
of intelligence or grades alone, but also on "leader****p" and such like.
3. Southern and Plant, 1968
Studied 42 male and 30 female members of Mensa. Mensa members were much=20
less religious in belief than the typical American college alumnus or=20
adult.
STUDIES Of SCIENTISTS
1. William S. Ament, 1927
C. C. Little, president of the University of Michigan, checked persons=20
listed in Who's Who in America: "Unitarians, Episcopalians,=20
Congregationalists, Universalists, and Presbyterians [who are less=20
religious] are=3D3F far more numerous in Who's Who than would be expected
o=
n=20
the basis of the population which they form. Baptists, Methodists, and=20
Catholics are distinctly less numerous."
Ament confirmed Little's conclusion. He noted that Unitarians, the
least=20
religious, were more than 40 times as numerous in Who's Who as in the=20
U.S. population.
2. Lehman and Witty, 1931
Identified 1189 scientists found in both Who's Who (1927) and American=20
Men of Science (1927). Only 25 percent of those listed in the latter
and=20
50 percent of those in the former re****ted their religious
denomination,=20
despite the specific request to do so, under the heading of "religious=20
denomination (if any)." Well over 90 percent of the general population=20
claims religious affiliation. The figure of 25 percent suggests far
less=20
religiosity among scientists.
Unitarians were 81.4 times as numerous among eminent scientists as non-
Unitarians.
3. Kelley and Fisk, 1951
Found a negative (-.39) correlation between the strength of religious=20
values and research competence. [How these were measured is unknown.]
4. Ann Roe, 1953
Interviewed 64 "eminent scientists, nearly all members of the=20
prestigious National Academy of Sciences or the American Philosophical=20
Society. She re****ted that, while nearly all of them had religious=20
parents and had attended Sunday school, 'now only three of these men
are=20
seriously active in church. A few others attend upon occasion, or even=20
give some financial sup****t to a church which they do not attend=3D3F All=
=20
the others have long since dismissed religion as any guide to them, and=20
the church plays no part in their lives=3D3F A few are militantly
atheistic=
,=20
but most are just not interested.'"
5. Francis Bello, 1954
Interviewed or questionnaired 107 nonindustrial scientists under the
age=20
of 40 judged by senior colleagues to be outstanding. Of the 87=20
responses, 45 percent claimed to be "agnostic or atheistic" and an=20
additional 22 percent claimed no religious affiliation. For 20 most=20
eminent, "the pro****tion who are now a-religious is considerably higher=20
than in the entire survey group."
6. Jack Chambers, 1964
Questionnaired 740 US psychologists and chemists. He re****ted, "The=20
highly creative men=3D3F significantly more often show either no
preference=
=20
for a particular religion or little or no interest in religion." Found=20
that the most eminent psychologists showed 40 percent no preference, 16=20
percent for the most eminent chemists.
7. Vaughan, Smith, and Sjoberg, 1965
Polled 850 US physicists, zoologists, chemical engineers, and
geologists=20
listed in American Men of Science (1955) on church member****p, and=20
attendance patterns, and belief in afterlife. Of the 642 replies, 38.5=20
percent did not believe in an afterlife, whereas 31.8 percent did.=20
Belief in immortality was less common among major university staff than=20
among those employed by business, government, or minor universities.
The=20
Gallup poll taken about this time showed that two-thirds of the U.S.=20
population believed in an afterlife, so scientists were far less=20
religious than the typical adult.
Conclusion
The consensus here is clear: more intelligent people tend not to
believe=20
in religion. And this observation is given added force when you
consider=20
that the above studies span a broad range of time, subjects and=20
methodologies, and yet arrive at the same conclusion.=20
This is the result even when the researchers are Christian
conservatives=20
themselves. One such researcher is George Gallup. Here are the results=20
of a Fall 1995 Gallup poll:
Percentage of respondents who agreed with the following statements:
Religion is Religion can
"very im****tant "answer all or most
Respondents in their life" of today's problems"
------------------------------------------------------------
Attended college 53 percent 58 percent
No college 63 65
Income over $50,000 48 56
$30,000 - $50,000 56 62
$20,000 - $30,000 56 60
Under $20,000 66 66
Why does this correlation exist? The first answer that comes to mind is=20
that religious beliefs tend to be more illogical or incoherent than=20
secular beliefs, and intelligent people tend to recognize that more=20
quickly. But this explanation will surely be rejected by religious=20
people, who will seek other explanations and rationalizations.=20
According to Nature 394:313, a recent survey of members of the National=20
Academy of Sciences showed that 72% are outright atheists, 21% are=20
agnostic and only 7% admit to belief in a personal God.
According to the Skeptic magazine vol.6 #2 1998, in multiple studies,=20
there is a negative correlation between theism and morality. By=20
Franzblau's 1934 study, there's a negative correlation between=20
religiousity and honesty. Ross 1950 shows atheists and agnostics are=20
more likely to express their willingness to help the poor than the=20
deeply religious. 1969 Hirschi and Stark found no correlation in=20
lawbreaking by churchgoing children and non-churchgoing children.
This same Skeptic published the results of another study that compared=20
professions and likelihood of believing in God. The general public was=20
just over 90% likely to believe in God. Scientists in general were just=20
under 40% likely. Mathematicians were just over 40% likely, biologists=20
just under 30%, and physicists were barely over 20% likely to believe
in=20
God.
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