Being a root cause analysis type person, let’s get to the heart
of the matter regarding this OP in general and the responses from Snowbird and a few others in particular. From Google Scholar – all recent studies from
experts (with those PhD thing-eys).
1. Intelligence and religiosity: Within families and over time, Tel Aviv Univ: Yoav Ganzach, Chemi Gotlibovski, 2013
The results suggest that intelligence has a strong negative
effect on religiosity. In addition, results also suggest that intelligence
interacts with age in determining religiosity: the more intelligent the person,
the stronger the negative effect of age on religiosity.
2. The relationship between intelligence and multiple domains of
religious belief: Evidence from a large adult US sample, Gary J.
Lewis, Stuart J. Ritchie, Timothy C. Bates, 2011
A model of the association of religiosity with intelligence openness
using a large adult US sample and 6 measures of religious belief and behavior. Lower
intelligence was significantly associated with higher levels of faith. Lower
intelligence was most strongly associated with increased fundamentalism.
3.The intelligence–religiosity nexus: A representative study of
white adolescent Americans, Helmuth Nyborg, 2009
The study examined whether IQ relates systematically to
denomination and income, using representative data from the National Longitudinal
Study of Youth (NLSY97). Atheists score 1.95 IQ points higher than Agnostics,
3.82 points higher than Liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than
Dogmatic persuasions. It is suggested that IQ makes an
individual likely to gravitate toward a denomination and level of achievement
that best fit his or hers particular level of cognitive complexity.
Ontogenetically speaking this means that contemporary denominations are rank
ordered by largely hereditary variations in brain efficiency (i.e. IQ). In
terms of evolution, modern Atheists are reacting rationally to cognitive and
emotional challenges, whereas Liberals and, in particular Dogmatics, still rely
on ancient, pre-rational, supernatural and wishful thinking.
