Jordan Monge (CT): Why Intelligent People Are Less Likely to be Religious

A good analysis of research methodology. Can we say self-fulfilling prophecy, kids? Sure we can.

There are the standard caveats. Correlation does not equal causation. Just because intelligent people are less likely to be religious doesn’t mean that their brilliance causes them to reject religion. One look at Christians’ intellectual contributions throughout history —made by thinkers such as Donne, Newton, Aquinas, and many others—does away with this misconception.

Plus, in spite of presenting a sweeping meta-analysis, the study’s authors relied on a limited range of research, as they admit in the paper. They primarily address Protestants, in the U.S. (This highlights a common problem in psychological research, which is heavily weighted toward a particular population that is rather WEIRD—Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic—when compared to the rest of the world.)

The most significant issue comes with the very question these researchers chose to explore. The way they framed their study suggests an implicit bias in the way scholars think about religion. “Secular researchers are likely to discover what they already suspect which is a co-relation between their values and high levels of intelligence,” noted atheist sociologist Frank Furerdi. He questioned the value of such a project, where “social science research turns into advocacy research.”

Read it all.