To that point, The Independent noted that the researchers used a very narrow definition of intelligence in the study, defining it as “the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.”
Sounds good, but it excludes other forms of intelligence, such as creative and emotional intelligence (forms of intelligence more easily assessed independent of educational stimulus).
But for me, the most important observation came from public statements from both Zuckerman and the study’s co-author, Jordan Silberman. When asked why he thought the meta-analysis seemed to favor the atheist over the believer, Silberman said he suspected it had more to do with “intelligent” people having less of a “need” for religion.
Specifically, “Intelligence may also lead to greater self-control ability, self-esteem [and] perceived control over the events.”
Is it just me, or does that translate as “pride”?
If you fancy yourself smart, and indeed perhaps are, you are prone to pride. Intellectual pride leads to a false sense of self-sufficiency coupled with a lack of teachability. You do not bow your knee to anyone—if anything, others should bow to you.
No wonder the study concludes that the higher the “intelligence,” the more likely that person is to challenge established norms and dogma (read: authority).
Perhaps nowhere does that kind of pride run amok more than in academia. As Lillian Daniel has observed, “There is a certain peer pressure as one moves up the educational ladder to dismiss all religion as fundamentalism. It’s one of the last acceptable biases in an environment that prides itself on being open-minded.”
There’s that word again.
Pride.
If you give in to that pride—particularly its highest form, which is putting yourself in the position of God—then there is no place for, well, God.
So maybe it’s not that religious people are less “intelligent” than atheists.
Maybe, in truth, the religious are the most intelligent of all. Not because they refuse to accept the facts, but because they do. Two in particular.
First, that there is a God.
And then the all-important second fact:
“And I’m not Him.”
