Researchers at University of Rochester found that religious people are less intelligent than atheists, according to Yahoo! News Canada.
Decades of research demonstrate "a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity" in 53 out of 63 studies, the report said.
The group of researchers at University of Rochester, led by Miron Zuckerman, compared their findings to old beliefs about why intelligent people are less inclined to be religious, such as they just "know better." This group found the reason to be a bit more complicated.
Since intelligent people are more likely to be married and successful, they don't "need" religion as much as others who are unemployed or lonely that may "need" it, for example. The study suggests that intelligent people may have an easier time providing themselves with the "psychological benefits offered by religion - such as "self-regulation and self-enhancement", because they are more likely to be successful, and have stable lives."
Zuckerman and his team's paper included the analysis of 1,500 gifted children -- with IQs over 135 -- that began in 1921 and still continues.
Their research refutes the claim that people turn to religion as they age. Those who scored lower for religiosity compared to the rest of the population remained nonreligious even at 75 to 91 years of age. However, this specific element of the study needed additional research.
The team of researchers included a quotation from 1916 in their paper that stated "58% of randomly selected scientists in the United States expressed disbelief in, or doubt regarding the existence of God; this proportion rose to nearly 70% for the most eminent scientists."
Researchers also added an excerpt from Michael Argyle, a social psychologist, in 1958 when he said, "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, and rather less likely to have pro-religious attitudes."
