According to Dagen (http://www.dagen.se/dagen/Article.aspx?ID=154898 and http://www.dagen.se/dagen/Article.aspx?ID=154899) the danishprofessor Nyborg has concluded that religious people are less intelligent than atheists. His research was done in 137 countries, but is not new. See http://danish.newsvine.com/_news/2007/02/05/554043-professor-atheists-are-more-intelligent-than-believers from feb 2007!). But I tend to agree to the english prof Martin, who according to Dagen thinks this is ridiculous.
Satistics is not easy. I would like to see the research methodology, the factual results and the statistical methods. Interpreting statistiscs is difficult. All we who have worked with statistics know that. Thre might be problems there in this case. Statistic correlation is not always the same as factual causality. Many times there can be alternative explanation models. Further, IQ is a difficult thing in itself. I am not sure you can just use the tests in different cultures, the tests have been developed in a western context. I am not sure that the results are totally independent from the testees background and education. There might be a bias there. Could it be that poor and religious countries give a lower average IQ because of other factors than religion? The results for the US - high IQ and high religiosity - talk against Nyborgs conclusions. Dagen writes: "There are several exceptions in the research, among others the US. There the IQ is high, even if the is a high percent of religious people, which the researchers explain through the many europeans have emigrated to the US because of their religion, and after that given their religiosity to coming generations." A nice explanation but I don't buy it. It must have been the more stupid part of the Europeans who emigrated (they were religious), but then it does not fit the results. In that case Americans should be more stupid than Europeans. Which is rubbish.
And then - what does it mean that 1% in the United Arab Emirates doubts the exitence of God, and 64% in Sweden does that? How free does an individual feel to express that kind of doubt in the Emirates compared to Sweden? What does the educational system mean here? Social pressures?
What had Swedes answered in the 19th century? Surely, the percentage of believers would have been much higher. Were Swedes more stupid back then?
As I understand it the researchers have compared the percentage of religiosity in the countries to the avergae IQ. But how is the connection between the two? Are the individuals with lowest IQ the religious ones? Or the other way around maybe? I do not think that it is possible at all to prove a real correlation between the IQ of people and their belief in God. The number of variables is too large, the uncertainties in what we measure too large.
But of course, an alternative explanation would be that I am too stupid to understand. After all, I believe in God.
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It is not just IQ that is a difficult thing in itself, religion is too.
There isn't much real meaning in a statement like 64% in Sweden doubts the exitence of God. It somehow assumes that 64% share the same perception of God, which I find hard to believe (pun intended). Or did the survey define the concept beyond any possible disagreements?
And then there is the lovely word 'doubt'. What does it mean? I am certain that God does not exist? He may or may not exist? He probably does not exist, but you never know?
Correlating 3 unclear concepts (intelligence, God, doubt) leads to nothing worthwile whatsoever.
Which brings up the question why one would want to. I have no answer to that.
Hi Aldo, I completely agree about the uncertainty of the question. As I understand the survey it might be any kind of god. Besides, doubting the existence of some kind of god is not the same as being an atheist.
The whole survey is quite meaningless but less critical people can oof course use it in antireligious propaganda. Maybe that is the meaning ... doing something like Dawkins, sacrificing scinetific integrity out of some kind of frustration with religious groups.
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