No surprise here. Fairy tales are for children.

That is one of the tenants of the atheist faith.  That they are just smarter than everyone else.  Like the rest of the myths it can not be empirically demonstrated. 

This is the finding of a study, not a tenet of atheism.

Next time I would like to see a similar study of Witchcraft.  We Wiccans have a pretty brain-studded following, too.  ;)

Well they are not too intelligent then.........

It should read intelligent people are on their way to hell.............

An academic who doesn't believe in God saying that the smartest people are academics who don't believe in God?

You have a point there; a study of a group conducted by a member of that group should be taken with a bag of salt.

Well, duh.

That is one of the tenants of the atheist faith.

That reminds me.  They're late with the rent again.  Damned tenants.

t-e-n-e-t-s.

Do you know that wayfarer is a synonym for vagrant?

RF, why is it that those who deny their ignorance the loudest always seem to have the vocabulary of a third grader?

TENET PARKING ONLY - $500 FINE

Intelligent people question established doctrine and teaching.  That's why they make progress possible.  Theism is established doctrine and teaching. 

"Intelligent people question established doctrine and teaching."

That is a more accurate way to say it.  I am not a classical theist, nor am I an atheist.  But here I am assuming that I am intelligent.  Watch the ego there, Dawnie.  ;)

To question established doctrine does not always mean to reject it permanently, though many do.  As long as you allow for the possibility of intelligent people questioning it and turning to embrace it as a result, you will be OK.

I wonder what percentage of high school dropouts believe that Jesus was the son of God? Well over half, I'll bet.

I believe the vast majority of those in prison are theists and specifically Christians as well.

The Bible says, "Professing to be wise, they became fools."  I actually agree with the study.  Intelligence can be a blessing or a curse.  If a person is intelligent, the temptation is to believe he/she is his/her own God and doesn't need a higher being.

  When intelligence is augmented with humility, I believe the chances of believing in God, or the chances of opening up one's mind to the possibility of God, greatly increase.   Intelligence minus humility is dangerous, and it becomes foolishness.  Intelligence plus humility is endless possibility.   

"With God, nothing is impossible."  

Fortunately, I don't believe in the Bible as a source of wisdom either.  Good fables, yes. 

But those who believe in the Bible should apply its *TENETS* to themselves, not to others.  Matthew 5:22, for example.  And Romans 1:33.

Intelligence augmented with humility is a sign of a good philosopher.

And a fair-sized amount of philosophy ponders the existence of God.

And pondering the existence of God with humility means being open to the possibility that God can exist at the same time that many established doctrines are incorrect.  Not the necessity of their being incorrect, just the possibility.

Which is like saying people who play chess are more intelligent than people who don't. Intelligence is an abstract term. It can not be defined unless one also defines the application of that intelligence. Along with accomplished academicians, Mensa also has tenant farmers, fry cooks and janitors in its membership. 

If one does well on a written test, how does his intelligence measure against a 12 year old aborigine if the test is survive in the Outback.

If retention and recall are measurements of intelligence then this piece of junk computer or a cash register is smarter than any one of us. I doubt the research in the blog considered the myriad variables of intelligence. It considered one aspect and jumped to a conclusion without qualification. Such research is more obnoxious than revealing.

Mensa also has tenant farmers, fry cooks and janitors in its membership. 

And about one in five is agnostic, atheist or stated "no religion" when asked.  (USA only).  About half say they're Christians.

Must be the fry cooks.

Compare that to New Zealand, where only 40 percent are sure there's a god.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sund...

I quite agree that being open minded and questioning is a sign of intelligence.  Most converts to the Orthodox Church are highly intelligent and collage educated.  There stories have a common thread of participant/observation in a wide range of faiths before finding there way home in the Orthodox Church.  Humility is seeking God as He is and not what we think He should be.  Projecting what we think God should be is anthropocentric or interpreting the universe by projecting human values on it.  That is a practice of atheism.  Another sad practice of atheism is not being open minded and curious.  Instead they tend to  close themselves of to all possibilities and denying their spiritual side.  That is like a man gouging out his own eyes instead of facing what he sees. 

I quite agree that being open minded and questioning is a sign of intelligence.

And that's why you lock your blogs.

O.K., rf, you win. You are more intelligent than the average shmoe because you're athiest. If I run across an athiest who can't read or do simple math, does that blow the theory? : )

You have that backwards, catpaw.  I'm an atheist because I'm more intelligent than the average schmoe.

Logic, y'know.

Way, I think many atheists and non-traditional spiritual people would accuse Christianity of projecting anthropocentrism onto the universe.

Personally, I think most of us do that, because human values and purposes are the ones we are most directly connected with.  I know that I do it.  :)

Again, you please me with the insightful things that you write, once the reader overlooks any religious specificity therein.

Way, I think many atheists and non-traditional spiritual people would accuse Christianity of projecting anthropocentrism onto the universe.

Bingo.   They see that human beings do things for reasons (albeit illogical ones) and seem convinced that stuff happens in the universe "for a reason," "because there's a plan."

Nope.  It's all random. 

...collage educated.

I don't like collage educated people. They cut up all of my magazines and use all of my Elmer's glue!

And that's why you lock your blogs.

I don't read them, anyway. Hardly anyone does. His blogs generally have only a few "views" at best.

maybe we can ask Mr Spock....lol

Actually Apollo it as been speculation by 19Th secularist scientist that man created God in his image and that all societies go through a evolutionary process of growing from a primitive stage. religious stage, metaphysical, and finally scientific.  These scientist tried to interpret all of the universe using Newtonian physics and Darwinian biology theories.  The influence of this perspective created atheist and secular humanist.  Now in the 21Th century we realize that Newtonian physics and Darwinism was not the end all of human intelligence and inadequate to explain all of creation.  So the atheist step children of those inadequate theories have also become obsolete.

     Traditional Judaism and its fulfillment in Orthodox Christianity has always been different than other faiths in that they were not created by man ,but were revealed by God.  It is the call of mature, Christian spirituality to grow beyond human limitations and encounter God as He is.  Or at least as much as we can grasp.  

"They cut up all of my magazines and use all of my Elmer's glue!"

Use mucilage.  (Mucilage!  I'm more than just giving away my age; I'm proving myself a real sea hag.  Now where'd I put my mimeograph?)

Way, some people perceive Christianity as anthropocentric because, as I understand it, it gives humanity a special status that is not given to other animals, even intelligent species.

God as depicted in the Bible seems singularly concerned with human affairs, taking little interest in the affairs of other species, other worlds, or other stellar systems.

If I were to defend that view, I would say that Christianity has earth-dwelling humanity as its intended recipient, therefore its focus on human affairs.  But I hope you can understand the perception of anthropocentricity in Christianity.

Actually Apollo it as been speculation by 19Th secularist scientist that man created God in his image

They were right, too.   Human image, human motives. 

Now in the 21Th century we realize that Newtonian physics and Darwinism was not the end all of human intelligence

And yet both are still correct, still taught, and still in use because they work for everyday problems.  But there's no such thing as "Darwinism."  If you want to follow the "Newtonian physics" construction it would be "Darwinian evolution."

But an understandable error coming from a Christianist.

My final word on this nonsense: If it were my grant money wasted on this so-called research, I'd be ticked-off and hit the professor in the mouth for wasting time, facilities, and loot. This guy is making a conclusion out of something relative.

So your answer to intellectual inquiry is violence?  Learn that in church, did you?

I suspect the study did not take into account people whose idea of "God" is called something else: the universe, higher power, spirit, etc.   I am not a classic Christian, but I am a searcher for truth, and I can accept that there are elements of many religions that speak truth.  I might not say I believe in "God" by the word, but I do believe there are forces that help to shape and guide our existence.  I believe in miracles and angels, of a sort.  Not people with white wings, but those among us.   

I consider myself reasonably intelligent, although not perhaps as wise as some, perhaps moreso than others.  I find really divisive these studies that purport to show that one group or the other is superior.  We're all on this road together, and though we may all use different on and off ramps, ultimately our time on this planet is so limited.  It's a shame we spend half our spiritual lives claiming to be "right."  I think we are all "right."  Whatever the "higher power," or "spirit" or "God," may be, I am sure it sows the seeds of disharmony for everyone when we spend more time on-upping each other than loving and caring for each other. 

Whitney, the study doesn't show that one or the other is "superior."  It shows that those with higher IQ's--a specific and possibly irrelevant number--are less likely to believe in the existence of a "god" as a separate entity. 

You are right at that Apollo.  God created the human race to bridge both the spiritual and material creation.  When man fell he took the rest of creation with him.  That is why this fallen world is a mess.  God did not create it that way man by his own choice has made it that way.  But God will transfigure this world in due time.  If God created other forms of life similar to man, we need not worry about it or He would have told us.  We do know that he created the Angles ,but these are purely spiritual beings. 

God created the human race to bridge both the spiritual and material creation.

He apparently built a bridge to nowhere, then.  Shoddy work.

But good work on the Angles.  I especially like the obtuse ones, but some of the others are acute, too.

I don't know about intelligence negating a belief in God, but I do believe that intelligence causes us to question the dogma of organized religion. Some things simply do not make logical sense, even if one wishes to find something to believe in. Also, many religions use their dogma as a means to control their believers. Intelligent people resist the efforts of organizations to control them unless they see a good reason for it.

My previous comment about the religious text's and science seems to work here as well:Both are the work of man,inspired man,but open to all the flaws and all the insight of man. Grain of salt.

140 IQ ,never finished high school( 1/4 unit short,long ugly story),AA degree(back when that was possible with no diploma),life long lover of learning,no criminal record.Hate chess,love Canasta. I believe they have established some seven "types" of intelligence,from social,political,to science and art, but only use rubber cement or paper glue, for those collages folks! Never ever Elmers! Mucilage is even worse! My granny told me that! ;-p  Much less wrinkling of the paper.

My final word on this nonsense: If it were my grant money wasted on this so-called research, I'd be ticked-off and hit the professor in the mouth for wasting time, facilities, and loot.

You just like to think that you would. More than likely, the professor would lay an outside crescent kick upside your temple and drop you like a soiled prophylactic. Your family and friends would be positively bursting with pride as they sat and watched the story on the Channel 17 news that night.