Religious belief & intelligence

[BigJimLittleJim]

Is it possible to be religious AND be intelligent?

In certain echelons of society it would be positively stupid not to nail your religious colours to the relevant religion.

For example, to become the president of the USA, then you'd best be a believer, or it's not going to happen.

Equally many other countries in the world demand this of their political leaders - no need to give any more examples, it would probably be easier to name the countries who do have a leader who is a non-believer.

Further, cultural intelligence allows for a membership of a religion without meaning you are unable to rationalise the facts - simply don't address the issue et voila, life goes on swimmingly.

Personally, I respect someone more for being brave enough to question religion, and stick to their principles, but you can also be a clever "coward" (or survivor perhaps), not everyone is prepared to fight against the God Botherer's.

Happily religious beliefs are going the way of the dinosaurs in many cultures the world over, so the long term trend is positive for humanity :)

 

[Matty]

Is it possible to be religious AND be intelligent?

In certain echelons of society it would be positively stupid not to nail your religious colours to the relevant religion.

For example, to become the president of the USA, then you'd best be a believer, or it's not going to happen.

Equally many other countries in the world demand this of their political leaders - no need to give any more examples, it would probably be easier to name the countries who do have a leader who is a non-believer.

Further, cultural intelligence allows for a membership of a religion without meaning you are unable to rationalise the facts - simply don't address the issue et voila, life goes on swimmingly.

Personally, I respect someone more for being brave enough to question religion, and stick to their principles, but you can also be a clever "coward" (or survivor perhaps), not everyone is prepared to fight against the God Botherer's.

Happily religious beliefs are going the way of the dinosaurs in many cultures the world over, so the long term trend is positive for humanity :)

Just because you "nail your religious colours to the relevant religion" doesn't mean you agree in the slightest with what that religion says or does. If it's purely for political gain then I'm sure there are hundreds, if not thousands, of politicians around the world that would claim allegiance to Satan and all his minnions if it meant winning an election.

 

[BlueHammer85]

If I believed that an omnipotent pink flying elephant orbits the earth and controls everything on it in 'mysterious ways', people would think I wasn't intelligent. Simple as that really, which is why religious belief (or blind faith in anything with no evidence to back it up) and intelligence are diametrically opposed.

yes but you dont have scriptures from thousands of years ago to back your claim up

 

[Bluemoon115]

If I believed that an omnipotent pink flying elephant orbits the earth and controls everything on it in 'mysterious ways', people would think I wasn't intelligent. Simple as that really, which is why religious belief (or blind faith in anything with no evidence to back it up) and intelligence are diametrically opposed.

yes but you dont have scriptures from thousands of years ago to back your claim up

Prove it.

 

[RP2]

Not intelligence as such but I don't like the whole stereotype of science against religion. ( I'm a final year student in Theoretical Physics and Maths)

I'm not "stick to the holy text" religious, but I believe in something bring out there.

What annoys me is people who call themselves scientists "disproving" God by saying that the big bang created the universe and not God.
What they fall to realise is that the big bang is just how the universe came to be as we know it now. Something had to be there for there to be a big bang.. and where did that come from?

I.e what fuelled the explosion and, what set the fuse?

There may have been something before the Big Bang but if it is proposed that this "thing" is god then it doesn't help us. It simply provokes the question who or what created god.

God is never a reasonable answer in these circumstances.

Quite true, but similarly, people claiming there is NO God because the big bang created the universe are equally unhelpful.

There is no proof whatsoever that there is, or isn't, a God. There are arguments for both, but no definitive answer.

 

[BigJimLittleJim]

Is it possible to be religious AND be intelligent?

In certain echelons of society it would be positively stupid not to nail your religious colours to the relevant religion.

For example, to become the president of the USA, then you'd best be a believer, or it's not going to happen.

Equally many other countries in the world demand this of their political leaders - no need to give any more examples, it would probably be easier to name the countries who do have a leader who is a non-believer.

Further, cultural intelligence allows for a membership of a religion without meaning you are unable to rationalise the facts - simply don't address the issue et voila, life goes on swimmingly.

Personally, I respect someone more for being brave enough to question religion, and stick to their principles, but you can also be a clever "coward" (or survivor perhaps), not everyone is prepared to fight against the God Botherer's.

Happily religious beliefs are going the way of the dinosaurs in many cultures the world over, so the long term trend is positive for humanity :)

Just because you "nail your religious colours to the relevant religion" doesn't mean you agree in the slightest with what that religion says or does. If it's purely for political gain then I'm sure there are hundreds, if not thousands, of politicians around the world that would claim allegiance to Satan and all his minnions if it meant winning an election.

My point precisely, although many so called religious people are plainly just going along with it for an easy life as well - doesn't make them less intelligent - in some families/circles, might even be the smart thing to do to get along.

Just for the record, I think all religion is a big pile of steaming poop.<br /><br />-- Wed Dec 04, 2013 3:08 pm --<br /><br />

If I believed that an omnipotent pink flying elephant orbits the earth and controls everything on it in 'mysterious ways', people would think I wasn't intelligent. Simple as that really, which is why religious belief (or blind faith in anything with no evidence to back it up) and intelligence are diametrically opposed.

yes but you dont have scriptures from thousands of years ago to back your claim up

Do the voices in my head count as proof :)

 

[Matty]

If I believed that an omnipotent pink flying elephant orbits the earth and controls everything on it in 'mysterious ways', people would think I wasn't intelligent. Simple as that really, which is why religious belief (or blind faith in anything with no evidence to back it up) and intelligence are diametrically opposed.

yes but you dont have scriptures from thousands of years ago to back your claim up

Just because someone several thousand years ago thought that there was a God, and wrote those thoughts down, doesn't make it a valid position to take in 2013. Thousands of years ago people wrote that the Sun revolved around the Earth, and that said Earth was flat. Does this mean we should blindly believe this now, due to having "scriptures from thousands of years ago to back the claim up"?

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

If I believed that an omnipotent pink flying elephant orbits the earth and controls everything on it in 'mysterious ways', people would think I wasn't intelligent.

To be honest, in over three years on this forum you have given us ample further evidence to come to the above conclusion regardless, without recourse to the flying pink elephant reference.

 

[Skashion]

yes but you dont have scriptures from thousands of years ago to back your claim up

You do know there is a seven headed dragon in the Bible don't you, along with the virgin birth, the walking on the water, resurrection from the dead and feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish? Unless there is independent supporting evidence, the Bible does not back up any claim. There's certainly no proof of God in the Bible.

 

[BimboBob]

If I believed that an omnipotent pink flying elephant orbits the earth and controls everything on it in 'mysterious ways', people would think I wasn't intelligent. Simple as that really, which is why religious belief (or blind faith in anything with no evidence to back it up) and intelligence are diametrically opposed.

yes but you dont have scriptures from thousands of years ago to back your claim up

Just because someone several thousand years ago thought that there was a God, and wrote those thoughts down, doesn't make it a valid position to take in 2013. Thousands of years ago people wrote that the Sun revolved around the Earth, and that said Earth was flat. Does this mean we should blindly believe this now, due to having "scriptures from thousands of years ago to back the claim up"?

Thousands of people worshipped a man with a big hammer for fucks sake. Now just Mark and his ilk are left. The freaks.