Understanding the negative relationship between IQ and religiosity

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mr-personality/201312/why-are-religious-people-generally-less-intelligent

In Texas, most go to church on Sunday to absolve themselves of any guilt from mistreating others during the week. One characteristic lacking is empathy toward the other, at least as directed towards others outside their religious click.

They can be raging assholes all week and after 12 PM on sundays. But they're "good christians" if they have a fish emblem on their cars and profess their faith.

Watching people act holier than thou and so judgie of everyone else.. while i knew there were affairs going on and shady business stuff and just general asshole attitudes the other 6 days of the week.

Then i discovered The Science! and my soul was comforted..

You hit the nail right on the head! And if those "others" happen to be poor and/or POC then all they secretly want you to do is just die already. You know, so as not to be inconvenienced by "those" people anymore. Can't tell you how many times I've heard "Kill them all and let gawd sort them out" said by so-called Christians in regards to the poor & POC here. Jesus wept.

They're too selfish to feel guilt over mistreating others. They're just afraid of judgment. Hence where church comes in - sins forgiven, scorecard wiped clean, and problem solved!

sort of either-or manner, as if a very large number of people didn't use a broad range of the faculties discussed. Also as if religious were better...

In looking for this I found mention of another study that revealed religious children were meaner. Doesn't mean they weren't empathetic enough to know how to get someone crying, of course.

I become suspicious any time I see a claim that one group is "less intelligent" than another group, especially when the claim is pitched to the nominally "more intelligent" group.

I'm dubious of any scientific/academic journal that would publish this sort of study.

From what I could find, the methodology too does not seem to be particularly rigorous, although the reports did not disclose very much about what the tests were like and what types of people were involved.

In general, I find these sort of studies to be more revealing of the people who concocted them than of the people who participated in them.

(Funny also that there are at least two typos in the write up....)

I fear that, on a scientific level, I am not particularly impressed.

In my opinion, every religious person stops being curious and do not seek truths, in fact, the more religious, the more willingly ignorant. They use their faith as their guide in decisions and are easily manipulated by clergy or religious friends. They may be genetically smart, but choose to be led rather than discover anything beyond their blinders

But then, considering how played that whole "serve one another in love" has become, it's well-nigh impossible to argue with the points about "every religious person" in your post.

"In my opinion, every religious person stops being curious and do not seek truths..."

Is that opinion predicated on objective evidence, or merely anecdotal evidence biased by a personal filter (or, in your words, 'blinders')?

traveled to every continent and see the same "blinders" on deeply religious folk, the worst being radical christians who use their scripture, guns and ropes to torture, shun and kill those with other beliefs, "in the name of God". Something supported since the crusades. Yes these radicals use their religion as an excuse to kill, but it also shows a lack of intellect, which was the question in the OP.
My opinion is a personal filter, and my friends who follow many religions to one degree or another, restrict themselves to equal degrees of tunnel vision about life, missing out on growth, experiences and the wonders of the world. I still respect them as human beings with qualities I may not have, but I am sad they do not see beyond religious propaganda. Curiosity leads to vision and there is too much to discover in one lifetime.

Willful ignorance is more prevalent in the US-apathy, compliance, fear and hate. They hide in their bibles, each interpreting the stories there differently but all fearing anyone different.

considering there are 100s of gods that all have followers that have very little in common.

Most just believe it because they are raised from en early age to believe it.

Face it, religion is geographically based. That is most of what makes someone a certain religion.

just saying!

That is, of course, if it's you. If so... shame for creating a forum then never citing any posts from it.

Science is great... unless it doesn't validate our biases about religion or marijuana-- then it's a flawed study, a hoax or merely poor science.

It doesn't look at religious heretics like me.

What's the reason?

For if it prosper then none dare call it heresy...

Hat tip to John Harington

I'm not clicking on your link without know what I'm linking to!

Now Lao Tzu, there was a guy who understood the value of brevity.

Intelligence vs. empathy? An ambitious study!

--imm

as gravity is a natural physical law.

If that somehow makes me stupid, then my ignorance is bliss. I'd never presume to tell anyone else what they should believe.

I think that's obvious even without the study.

I think smarter people naturally tend towards curiosity, and vice-versa, but the the fastest Lamborghini in the world still won't break any speed records if you leave it in the garage.

Religious people are why LGBT are mistreated in this world. All they care about is money and self.

You should post an excerpt and you should comment in thread and not use this community like some wall to spray your rhetorical graffiti on.

And they talk to themselves a lot.

I'd go so far as to say he was wise:

March 23, 2016
Case Western Reserve University

... In a series of eight experiments, the researchers found the more empathetic the person, the more likely he or she is religious ...

Atheists, the researchers found, are most closely aligned with psychopaths -- not killers, but the vast majority of psychopaths classified as such due to their lack of empathy for others.

The new study is published in the online journal PLOS ONE. The other authors are Jared Friedman, a research assistant and recent graduate in Philosophy and Cognitive Science who will begin his PhD in organizational behavior at Case Western Reserve in the fall, and Scott Taylor, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Babson College ...

Friedman said, "Having empathy doesn't mean you necessarily have anti-scientific beliefs. Instead, our results suggest that if we only emphasize analytic reasoning and scientific beliefs, as the New Atheist movement suggests, then we are compromising our ability to cultivate a different type of thinking, namely social/moral insight" ...

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323151838.htm

...engage in the discussion. Otherwise you're just spamming.

And, please, don't just post a link and then you're done with it. An excerpt would be nice so we know if we even want to click on the link.

The article is crap, by the way.