From: mam@jcnpc.cmhnet.org (Mike A. McAngus)
Subject: Re: iq<->religion: connection?
Organization: Homebrew Virtual Reality Labs
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 02:22:23 GMT

Iikka Paavolainen (iikkap@mits.mdata.fi) wrote:
: In article <1992Dec28.071210.1149@nmsu.edu> sdoe@nmsu.edu (Stephen Doe) write
s:
: >In article <1992Dec19.224717.1993@prime.mdata.fi> iikkap@mits.mdata.fi (Iikk
a Paavolainen) writes:
: >>Am I seeing wrongly, or is there a connection between one's IQ and one's
: >>religiousness? Of all people I know, I know only about 8 exceptionally smar
t
: >>people (IQ>125), and all of them happen to be atheists. On the contrary, th
e
: >>dumbest people I've seen (eg. unable to use a remote control) are the most
: >>religious. Observing other atheists that I don't know (from this group for
: >>example) leads me to make a conclusion that on the average, atheists have a
: >>much better sense of logic (and thus usually have a higher IQ) and think mu
ch
: >>more clearly than religious people. From my own experiences, I can say that
: >>freeing oneself from the grasp of religion requires a certain level of logi
cal
: >>thinking. Coincidentally, all these 8 people are mathematically gifted.
: >>When I speak of atheism here, I mean it to be a lack of belief in any god o
r
: >>superstition.
: >>Opinions?
: >>
: >>BTW, if this offended you, go to a church instead of coming to alt.atheism.
: >>--
: >> __/|_  ,  ,--------------------------------------------------------------,
: >>/o    \/:--| Iikka Paavolainen / iikkap@mits.mdata.fi, in Espoo, Finland  |
: >>\__~__/\:--| "I won't have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent."    |
: >>   `    `  `--------------------------------------------------------------'
: >
: >Ah, here's the first post in the series.  Well, old bean, in this
: >first post you didn't:
: >
: >tell us the size of your sample (later you say it's 1000)
:
: You really aren't so stupid that you think the sample was 8?? I don't know
: the sample myself, but as I stated, every person I've met.

Of course we're that stupid!!  That's what you told us.
Another logical, non-emotional, non-inflamatory responsed brought to you by 
Iikka Paavolainen.

:
: >
: >tell us how you prevented any bias from creeping into your
: >observations (oh, that's right, you're not biased at all.  Yeah,
: >right, give me a break)
:
: I'm not biased to anything. Just a matter of self-control.

Iikka is biased to hir own superiority.

:
: >
: >tell us how the sample was selected
:
: That is told in the post.

The super-smnart 8 people, that you denied you mentioned, or the 1000 people
(more or less) that you used "mass elimination" (whatever that is) upon?

:
: >
: >tell us how you determined degree of religiousness, and IQ, for the
: >1000 person sample you later refer to
:
: By talking to them and making observations.
: How else?

So, what's my IQ?

:
: >
: >etc.
: >
: >Do you see what I am getting at now?
: >
: >At most, tentative observations like this should prompt us to see if
: >such a correlation exists.  In and of itself, this just doesn't cut it
: >as a "proof" of your correlation, not without a lot more to back it
: >up.  This isn't a bedtime story, you can't just make sweeping
: >generalizations on the basis of such flimsy evidence.  Ah, but I
: >forget, my emotional commitment to decent intellectual standards and
: >fairness have blinded me to the Gospel as propounded by Iikka
: >Paavolainen.
:
: If you look at the post, you see no "sweeping generalizations" or anything
: passed as a hard fact. Get real.

Your entire post has lacked hard fact.

:
: >
: >It still seems to me that this correlation is just being used as a
: >convenient device to dismiss theists with the wave of a hand.  Ad
: >hominem all the way.
:
: Your personality has defined ad hominem very well.

Another logical, non-emotional, non-inflamatory response brought to you by
Iikka Paavolainen.
-- 
Mike McAngus 			 | As if I needed Another time consuming hobby.
(mam@jcnpc.cmhnet.org)		 | 
The Truth is still the Truth	 | This Post exploits illiterates.
Even if you choose to ignore it. | 
Newsgroups: alt.atheism