Myth: Intelligent people tend to be more religious.
Fact: Intelligent people tend to be more secular.
Summary
The broad consensus of research shows that people with higher
IQs tend to be less religious, not more so.
Argument
Is it more logical to be a Christian? Is religion the natural
choice of a smart person familiar with more of the evidence? Not
according to a broad consensus of studies on IQ and religiosity.
These studies have consistently found that the lower the IQ score,
the more likely a person is to be religious.
To place these studies in perspective, it is helpful to know the
general religious attitudes of Americans today. According to a
February 1995 Gallup poll, 96 percent of all Americans believe
in God, and 88 percent affirm the importance of religion. However,
the degree of religiosity within this group varies considerably.
Only 35 percent can be classified as "religious," using
a definition that requires them to consider religion important
and attend religious services at least once a week. And a March
1994 Gallup poll found that only 20 percent of all Americans belong
to that politically active group known as "Christian conservatives."
The following is a review of several studies of IQ and religiosity,
paraphrased and summarized from Burnham Beckwith's article, "The
Effect of Intelligence on Religious Faith," Free Inquiry,
Spring 1986: (1)
STUDIES OF STUDENTS
1. Thomas Howells, 1927
Study of 461 students showed religiously conservative students
"are, in general, relatively inferior in intellectual ability."
2. Hilding Carlsojn, 1933
Study of 215 students showed that "there is a tendency
for the more intelligent undergraduate to be sympathetic toward
atheism."
3. Abraham Franzblau, 1934
Confirming Howells and Carlson, tested 354 Jewish children,
aged 10-16. Found a negative correlation between religiosity and
IQ as measured by the Terman intelligence test.
4. Thomas Symington, 1935
Tested 400 young people in colleges and church groups. He
reported, "There is a constant positive relation in all the
groups between liberal religious thinking and mental ability
There is also a constant positive relation between liberal scores
and intelligence
"
5. Vernon Jones, 1938
Tested 381 students, concluding "a slight tendency for
intelligence and liberal attitudes to go together."
6. A. R. Gilliland, 1940
At variance with all other studies, found "little or
no relationship between intelligence and attitude toward god."
7. Donald Gragg, 1942
Reported an inverse correlation between 100 ACE freshman test
scores and Thurstone "reality of god" scores.
8. Brown and Love, 1951
At the University of Denver, tested 613 male and female students.
The mean test scores of non-believers was 119 points, and for
believers it was 100. The non-believers ranked in the 80th
percentile, and believers in the 50th. Their findings
"strongly corroborate those of Howells."
9. Michael Argyle, 1958
Concluded that "although intelligent children grasp religious
concepts earlier, they are also the first to doubt the truth of
religion, and intelligent students are much less likely to accept
orthodox beliefs."
10. Jeffrey Hadden, 1963
Found no correlation between intelligence and grades. This
was an anomalous finding, since GPA corresponds closely with intelligence.
Other factors may have influenced the results at the University
of Wisconsin.
11. Young, Dustin and Holtzman, 1966
Average religiosity decreased as GPA rose.
12. James Trent, 1967
Polled 1400 college seniors. Found little difference, but
high-ability students in his sample group were over-represented.
13. C. Plant and E. Minium, 1967
The more intelligent students were less religious, both before
entering college and after 2 years of college.
14. Robert Wuthnow, 1978
Of 532 students, 37 percent of Christians, 58 percent of apostates,
and 53 percent of non-religious scored above average on SATs.
15. Hastings and Hoge, 1967, 1974
Polled 200 college students and found no significant correlations.
16. Norman Poythress, 1975
Mean SATs for strongly antireligious (1148), moderately anti-religious
(1119), slightly antireligious (1108), and religious (1022).
17. Wiebe and Fleck, 1980
Studied 158 male and female Canadian university students.
They reported "nonreligious S's tended to be strongly intelligent"
and "more intelligent than religious S's."
STUDENT BODY COMPARISONS
1. Rose Goldsen, 1952
Percentage of students who believe in a divine god: Harvard
30; UCLA 32; Dartmouth 35; Yale 36; Cornell 42; Wayne 43; Weslyan
43; Michigan 45; Fisk 60; Texas 62; North Carolina 68.
2. National Review Study, 1970
Percentage of students who believe in a Spirit or Divine God:
Reed 15; Brandeis 25; Sarah Lawrence 28; Williams 36; Stanford
41; Boston U. 41; Yale 42; Howard 47; Indiana 57; Davidson 59;
S. Carolina 65; Marquette 77.
3. Caplovitz and Sherrow, 1977
Apostasy rates rose continuously from 5 percent in "low"
ranked schools to 17 percent in "high" ranked schools.
4. Niemi, Ross, and Alexander, 1978
In elite schools, organized religion was judged important
by only 26 percent of their students, compared with 44 percent
of all students.
STUDIES OF VERY-HIGH IQ GROUPS
1. Terman, 1959
Studied group with IQ's over 140. Of men, 10 percent held
strong religious belief, of women 18 percent. Sixty-two percent
of men and 57 percent of women claimed "little religious
inclination" while 28 percent of the men and 23 percent of
the women claimed it was "not at all important."
2. Warren and Heist, 1960
Found no differences among National Merit Scholars. Results
may have been effected by the fact that NM scholars are not selected
on the basis of intelligence or grades alone, but also on "leadership"
and such like.
3. Southern and Plant, 1968
Studied 42 male and 30 female members of Mensa. Mensa members
were much less religious in belief than the typical American college
alumnus or adult.
STUDIES Of SCIENTISTS
1. William S. Ament, 1927
C. C. Little, president of the University of Michigan, checked
persons listed in Who's Who in America: "Unitarians,
Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Universalists, and Presbyterians
[who are less religious] are
far more numerous in Who's
Who than would be expected on the basis of the population
which they form. Baptists, Methodists, and Catholics are distinctly
less numerous."
Ament confirmed Little's conclusion. He noted that Unitarians,
the least religious, were more than 40 times as numerous in Who's
Who as in the U.S. population.
2. Lehman and Witty, 1931
Identified 1189 scientists found in both Who's Who
(1927) and American Men of Science (1927). Only 25 percent
of those listed in the latter and 50 percent of those in the former
reported their religious denomination, despite the specific request
to do so, under the heading of "religious denomination (if
any)." Well over 90 percent of the general population claims
religious affiliation. The figure of 25 percent suggests far less
religiosity among scientists.
Unitarians were 81.4 times as numerous among eminent scientists
as non-Unitarians.
3. Kelley and Fisk, 1951
Found a negative (-.39) correlation between the strength of
religious values and research competence. [How these were measured
is unknown.]
4. Ann Roe, 1953
Interviewed 64 "eminent scientists, nearly all members
of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences or the American
Philosophical Society. She reported that, while nearly all of
them had religious parents and had attended Sunday school, 'now
only three of these men are seriously active in church. A few
others attend upon occasion, or even give some financial support
to a church which they do not attend
All the others have
long since dismissed religion as any guide to them, and the church
plays no part in their lives
A few are militantly atheistic,
but most are just not interested.'"
5. Francis Bello, 1954
Interviewed or questionnaired 107 nonindustrial scientists
under the age of 40 judged by senior colleagues to be outstanding.
Of the 87 responses, 45 percent claimed to be "agnostic or
atheistic" and an additional 22 percent claimed no religious
affiliation. For 20 most eminent, "the proportion who are
now a-religious is considerably higher than in the entire survey
group."
6. Jack Chambers, 1964
Questionnaired 740 US psychologists and chemists. He reported,
"The highly creative men
significantly more often show
either no preference for a particular religion or little or no
interest in religion." Found that the most eminent psychologists
showed 40 percent no preference, 16 percent for the most eminent
chemists.
7. Vaughan, Smith, and Sjoberg, 1965
Polled 850 US physicists, zoologists, chemical engineers,
and geologists listed in American Men of Science (1955)
on church membership, and attendance patterns, and belief in afterlife.
Of the 642 replies, 38.5 percent did not believe in an afterlife,
whereas 31.8 percent did. Belief in immortality was less common
among major university staff than among those employed by business,
government, or minor universities. The Gallup poll taken about
this time showed that two-thirds of the U.S. population believed
in an afterlife, so scientists were far less religious than the
typical adult.
Conclusion
The consensus here is clear: more intelligent people tend not
to believe in religion. And this observation is given added
force when you consider that the above studies span a broad range
of time, subjects and methodologies, and yet arrive at the same conclusion.
This is the result even when the researchers are Christian conservatives
themselves. One such researcher is George Gallup. Here are the
results of a Fall 1995 Gallup poll:
Percentage of respondents who agreed with the following statements: Religion is Religion can "very important "answer all or most Respondents in their life" of today's problems" ------------------------------------------------------------ Attended college 53 percent 58 percent No college 63 65 Income over $50,000 48 56 $30,000 - $50,000 56 62 $20,000 - $30,000 56 60 Under $20,000 66 66
Why does this correlation exist? The first answer that comes to
mind is that religious beliefs tend to be more illogical or incoherent
than secular beliefs, and intelligent people tend to recognize
that more quickly. But this explanation will surely be rejected
by religious people, who will seek other explanations and rationalizations.
A possible counter-argument is that intelligent people tend to
be more successful than others. The lure of worldly success and
materialism draws many of these intellectually gifted individuals
away from God. After all, who needs God when you (apparently)
are making it on your own?
However, this argument does not withstand closer scrutiny. Most
of the studies outlined above describe the religious attitudes
of students, who have yet to enter the working world, much less
succeed in it. Some might then argue that the most intelligent
students are nonetheless succeeding in school. But "success"
in school (for those who may have forgotten!) is more measured
in terms of popularity, sports, physical attractiveness, personality,
clothes, etc. Grades are but one of many measures of success in
a young person's life -- one that is increasingly becoming less
important, as many social critics point out.
The simplest and most parsimonious explanation is that religion
is a set of logical and factual claims, and those with the most
logic and facts at their disposal are rejecting it largely on
those grounds.
Return to Overview
Endnotes:
1. I am indebted to Jim Tims ( jftims@borg.com ) for summarizing
this article. I have edited his summary for space reasons. Those wishing to see
the original text are encouraged to read "The
Effect of Intelligence on Religious Faith," Free Inquiry,
Spring 1986.