The Relationship of Religiosity, Atheism, Belief and Intelligence

There are many contributing factors that relate to religious belief and disbelief. A brief review of current literature indicates a recurring theme in support of the negative relationship between intelligence and religiosity. These studies show that higher Intelligence Quotient’s (IQ) correlate with lower religious belief and atheism. To gain a greater understanding of that relationship, studies on curiosity and emotional intelligence, belief and evolutionary theory were considered. Directionality is indicated in some studies, which suggest that increased cognitive abilities lead to a decrease in religious belief. Evolutionary theory also supports directionality in that it suggests that belief in the divine is an ancestral behavior and atheism is the later novel behavior (Bertsch & Pesta, 2009). Additionally the way beliefs are valued and attributed can determine the strength of our beliefs. The depth of our core beliefs can contribute to our willingness to change or alter them. Curiosity and emotional intelligence can lead to questioning and changing beliefs (Canna, Calhouna, Tedeschia, Kilmera, Gil-Rivasa, Vishnevskya, and Danhauerb, 2010). The current research provides hints to the links between the contributing factors of why some people change their beliefs and why others do not (Leonard, Harvey, 2007) Introduction Religious belief has served humanity in a myriad of ways. It would seem that any question that could not be answered within the context of man’s current intellectual capacity would be deferred to a higher power. Any explanation of humanities existence that was beyond man’s grasp was equated to the divine. While today the answers to the mysteries of life still escapes us, the questions we ask are less inhibited by the restrictions of such religious dogma. Blind faith, while still practiced, is not a practical approach to resolving the complex problems of modern society. Humankind has evolved, and in growing numbers, people no longer fear challenging religious ideology or even putting religious practice completely aside as atheism is more widely accepted as a viable alternative to religiosity. The following literature review will show that there is a negative relationship between intelligence and religious belief and further, attempt to explain the transition from a position of religious faith to that of a nonbeliever by looking at how a belief is acquired, what happens when it is challenged and what is required for a belief to be changed. Secular rises in IQ scores are occurring worldwide. One explanation is that our current understanding of the world and the need for realistic explanations for our day-to-day experiences are in direct conflict with ancient religious teachings (Bertsch & Pesta, 2009). IQ increases are a good place to start looking for clarification as to why religiosity is questioned to begin with. A study of 137 countries shows a 0.60 correlation between National IQ’s and disbelief in God (Lynn, Harvey & Nyborg, 2009). In support of these findings, atheists are shown to score consistently higher on IQ tests in comparison to those who are considered to be highly religious (Bertsch & Pesta, 2009). Intellectual elites are shown to have a higher percentage of nonreligious beliefs as compared to the general population (Lynn, Harvey & Nyborg, 2009). Additionally, there is also evidence that shows a decline in religious belief from adolescence to adulthood. The decline is attributed to the increase in cognitive ability during this important developmental transition (Lynn, Harvey & Nyborg, 2009). Further, the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, which measured nearly 7000 American Children between the ages of 12 and 17 in religious belief and psychometric g, the general factor in intelligence, and found that atheists scored 6 g IQ points higher than the combined groups of students who followed a particular faith (Moore, Pedlow, Krishnamurty & Wolter, 1997). In a study conducted by Lewis (2011) on the relationship between intelligence and multiple domains of religious belief, the personality trait of openness to new experiences is controlled as both religious belief and intelligence, are correlated with this trait as defined by the theory of the Big Five (Lewis, Ritchie, & Bates, 2011). Openness was viewed as a potential confound because nonbelievers may have simply been open to the experience of alternative explanations of religion as opposed to having higher intelligence. Six religious domains ranging from Mindfulness, a less rigid religious perspective, to Fundamentalism and a strict adherence to religious doctrine were measured against intelligence and cognitive ability. The study found that five of the six measures negatively associated with intelligence, with Fundamentalism having the strongest negative association of B -. 13 and removing education from this measure increased it to B -. 25. Openness did in fact predict for the less strict religious domains however the relationship was opposite for fundamentalism (Lewis, Ritchie, Bates, 2011). Intellectual conflict with scriptures is also a consideration in this study as the author theorizes that increased cognitive and intellectual ability directs such individuals (Lewis, Ritchie & Bates, 2011). Another aspect of religiosity’s’ relationship to intelligence that should be considered is the behavior of questioning and when it is deployed to acquire knowledge, as opposed to when one chooses to act without question. In a study done by Nancy Leonard and Michael Harvey (2007), curiosity is shown to be a