Sunday, April 23, 2006

The Martian Anthropologist posted about an article in Wikipedia called "Religiosity and intelligence."  One of the first things you'll read is a quote from a study done in 1986:

All but four of the forty-three polls listed support the conclusion that native intelligence varies inversely with degree of religious faith; i.e., that, other factors being equal, the more intelligent a person is, the less religious he is.

I don't even know where to begin commenting on this. For those of you are regular readers (and surprisingly enough, there are a few of you), you know that I am most definitely a Christian. And it completely blows my mind that Wikipedia says this is the Christian response to the charge that Christians are less intelligent:

It has been argued by some Christians that the Bible does not necessarily dispute these findings, as the beginning of the first letter to Corinthians reads:

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." (1 Corinthians 1 v 26-27, New International Version)

While it's true that the Bible does, in fact, say that, Wikipedia has taken it completely out of context--and in doing show has shown the bias held by editors of Wikipedia.

Now, it's seems to be acceptable in society to use "religious" and "Christian" interchangebly. But I want to assert that they are not synonymous. I am a Christian. I am not religious. Religion is nothing more than following a strict set of rules (which is where we get the phrase "doing something religiously."). People who don't understand Christianity (which, I also assert would include some who label themselves "Christian") don't see the difference, but it's a big one.

Christianity acknowledges that we are all flawed. Everyone, from the corrupt politician to Mother Theresa to the Pope. CS Lewis wrote a poem in which he faces this truth about himself:

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love--a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Christianity is about acknowledging this truth. And then about allowing God to give you a heart transplant so that you can do as He has commanded: "Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence--and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself" (Luke 10:27, The Message).

Religion? Religion is about judgement and condemnation. Religion asks the question, "How many right things have you done today?" Religion leaves no room for love or grace. True Christianity is not religion.

So then, I have to ask, how accurate can these studies be? If the basic premise of the study, that religion=Christianity, is wrong, then how can we take them at face value?

Tags: Christianity, Religiosity and Intelligence, Religion

Posted by Amanda at 4/23/2006 12:25:00 PM

5 Comments

 the bloke posted at 4/23/2006 04:14:00 PM  
I agree with your assessment vis-a-vis religion and Christianity. In fact many like to use the term "Christ follower" rather than Christian to further distinguish themselves from just following a denomination or institution. I like what James say in his epistle: "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

 shirley buxton posted at 4/23/2006 07:55:00 PM  
I am a follower after Christ. Whether or not I am intelligent is a secondary point, although I think that interpretation of the study may be flawed.

Thank you for the post.

Blessings,

Shirley

 Peter Porcupine posted at 4/23/2006 08:41:00 PM  
Unforunately, the world of Academia had become so poisoned against the Religious (albeit not the spiritual) that there is little change of a fair or unbalanced assessment of the overall relationship between religiosity, intelligence and intellectualism.

Because they do the studies.

 Susan L. Prince posted at 4/26/2006 03:39:00 PM  
I'd rather be a less intelligent human who follows Christ, than a brainiac condemned to hell.

So, who's intelligent?

 ontheedgeofmyseat posted at 4/27/2006 11:23:00 AM  
Good point, Susan! It's better to lose the world and keep your soul than gain the whole world and lose your soul!

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