Leading the pack were Unitarian Universalists. Why do I care? I'm a Unitarian Universalist. I never took the SAT (we take the ACT here in Iowa), but now, based on this survey, I have no choice but to conclude that I would've just nailed it.
Then, this week, scienceblogs.com looked at the numbers from that survey again and plotted them against the proportion which believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. This will shock all of you. (ahem). As it turns out, those who believe that the Bible is literally true have (on average) a lower IQ than those who don't.
The semi-serious chicken or the egg question: Are folks with lower IQs drawn to Biblical literalism, or does Biblical literalism lower your IQ?
2 comments:
Interesting (while not shocking) article. I would suggest there's a confound variable of either geography or economics. The South, for example, tends to a) be heavily Baptist and b) have underfunded and underperforming schools. Also, poor people tend to a) be people of faith, especially those on the lower quarter of your graph and b) have lower IQ's.
I skimmed your website and it seems that embracing (and celebrating) the fact that we have scientific proof that religious peoples are dummies flies in teh face of the UU belief.
Definitely other factors at play here... I'm always fascinated by the relationship between circumstance (geography, financial status you're born into) and belief system. And the extreme fervency of these people who insist that their beliefs are the only correct beliefs...despite evidence indicating that they would hold a different set were they born somewhere else in different circumstances.
"it seems that embracing (and celebrating) the fact that we have scientific proof that religious peoples are dummies flies in teh face of the UU belief."
Ha...that is somewhat true. I think most UUs would link IQ and biblicial literalism...what is anti-UU is the glee with which I post that information. But then again, I'm kind of a dick.
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