Religion has had one of the greatest influences on the human race.

Wars have been fought, kingdoms have risen and fallen, and countless

people have been persecuted and murdered in the name of religion.

Conversely, religion is a great source of comfort and support to millions of

people, it has spawned countless works of art, music, and literature, and

many religious institutions dedicate much of their effort towards community

services and helping the less fortunate. For the vast majority of human

history, the grip of religion on humanity has been essentially without

question. Only in the past few hundred years, with the maturation of

scientific fields such as biology, physics, geology, and astronomy has

religion’s grip been weakened. We have transitioned to a time where religion

no longer holds a theological monopoly on the answers to questions such as

“where did we come from?” and “what is our place in the universe?” Science

has stepped in with alternative answers based on reason and scientific

methods.

Religion and the religious have a long history of persecuting scientists

and their findings if it contradicts their religious beliefs, such as Galileo’s

persecution at the hands of the Catholic Church for his heliocentric model of

the solar system, and attacks on Darwin’s theory of evolution that continue

to this day in the form of pseudoscience such as Intelligent Design. These

continued attacks on scientific research and theories have lead many

scientists to theorize that belief in religion is unintelligent, and, in fact,

multiple studies have shown that there is a significant negative relationship

between religious belief and intelligence (Lynn, Harvey, & Nyborg, 2009).

Evidence for this relationship comes in many forms, such as the negative

correlation between intelligence and religious belief, the greater lack of

religion among intellectual elites when compared to population averages, the

decline in religious belief as general population intelligence increases, and

the decline of religious belief in children as they grow up. In further studying

this relationship, one can hope to gain a better understanding of the massive

influence religion has had and continues to have on our species.

Before continuing, is should be noted that while countless studies of

the relationship between religion and intelligence have confirmed such a

link, there is no absolute definition of what it means to be religious. While

some studies simply define religious belief as an affirmative answer to “Do

you believe in god?” or draw information from “religious preference” choice

on standardized tests, others feature much more detailed investigation of

religious belief. An example of this is Francis’ ASC4B, which measures

children’s attitudes towards Christianity with a 24-question Likert scale

questionnaire about the influence of both god and Jesus Christ in the child’s

life (Francis, 1989). While this does not detract from the relationship, as a

multitude of studies have shown it regardless of their measurement of

religious belief, one should keep this fact in mind when reviewing literature

on the subject, as some studies may have less descriptive power than

others. For example, some studies have shown that intelligence negatively

correlates with how literally one interprets their holy scriptures, such as the
Bible or Qur’an. One who interprets their holy scripture as complete fact is

thus likely to be less intelligent than one who sees it as metaphorical or

allegorical. This trend would have gone completely unnoticed if the only

rubric for religious belief were answers to questions such as “Do you believe

in god?”

A significant piece of evidence of the relationship between religious

beliefs and intelligence is the negative correlation between intelligence and

religious beliefs. A 1986 meta-analysis by Beckwith found that, out of 43

studies performed examining this correlation, all but four found a negative

correlation. The studies had multiple methodologies and rubrics of

intelligence. One used SAT scores grouped by professed stance on religion

and found a strong correlation, with strongly anti-religious students having

the highest scores at 1148, followed by moderately anti-religious at 1119,

slightly anti-religious at 1108, and lastly religious at 1022 (Beckwith, 1986).

Others used different measures of belief, generally surveys about religious

beliefs, and intelligence, generally IQ or GPA, but the vast majority of studies

found some negative correlation between religious belief and intelligence

(Beckwith, 1986).

Similarly, in their 2009 investigation of this relationship, Lynn et al

found a correlation of .60 between average population IQ and average

disbelief in god across 137 nations. Lynn et al state that the correlation of .

60 is equivalent to a -.60 correlation between belief in god and intelligence

(2009). Lynn et al also point out some slightly anomalous observations from
their study, such as a much higher than expected percentage of non-

believers in Cuba and Vietnam (40% and 81%, respectively) and much lower

than expected percentage of atheists in the USA (10.5%) in comparison to

their average national IQ. Their explanation for these findings is that Cuba

and Vietnam are/were Communist nations, which feature strong anti-

religious laws and propaganda, and that the USA has a larger than average

number of Catholics and other religious conservatives (Lynn et all, 2009).

However, one could also argue that disbelief in god is only one aspect of

religious belief and that further inquiry involving more in-depth questioning

about religious beliefs, such as the previously mentioned 24-question ASC4B,

could reveal more on the subject.

Another excellent piece of evidence of the negative relationship

between religious beliefs and intelligence is the greater lack of religious

beliefs in intellectual elites when compared to the population as a whole. A

1916 study by Leuba showed that, while less than 4% of the American

populace expressed disbelief in god, about 41% of scientists listed in

“American Men of Science” did not believe in god, while 52% of members of

the American National Academy of Sciences (an elite group of scientists) did

not believe either. Leuba took this as evidence that scientists disbelieve in

religion as a whole much more than the general population, and that the

“greater” the scientist, the more likely they were to disbelieve. Similarly, in

their 1996 and 1998 replications of Leuba’s original study, Larson and

Witham found that, while 10.5% of the general population did not believe in
god, 45% of scientists listed in “American Men and Women of Science” did

not believe, while 72.2% of members of the Natural Academy of Sciences did

not believe. In all of these studies, similar questions such as “Do you believe

in an afterlife?” were also asked, and there was a similar proportion of

academic elites who did not believe in these cases as well.

One may have noticed in the previous studies by Leuba, Larson and

Witham that, from 1916 to 1996/1998, there was an increase in disbelief in

all 3 categories, and in fact a third piece of evidence of the relationship

between religious belief and intelligence is that, as the intelligence of a

population increases over time, belief in religion drops. Increases in

population intelligence over time are a well-studied phenomenon, and are

known as the Flynn effect, discovered due to the need to re-normalize

intelligence test scores. This increase in population intelligence has been

calculated at a rate of about three IQ points per decade, and if there is a

negative relationship between intelligence and religious belief, one could

expect an associated drop in religiosity, and multiple studies have confirmed

that this is in fact the case. For example, in 1950, 72% of British people

claimed belief in God, but by 2004, this number had fallen to 58.5%;

similarly, in the same period the number of believers in the US dropped from

95.5% to 89.5% (Lynn et al, 2009). Similarly, church attendance in the UK fell

from 40% in 1850 to only 10% in 1990 (Lynn et al, 2009).

A final piece of evidence of the negative link between religious belief

and intelligence is that, as children age, their belief in religion declines. A

1989 study by Francis, in which 3600 English schoolchildren aged 8-16 were

administered a survey on their view of Christianity, showed a marked

decrease in religiousness as children aged. A similar study by Kuhlen and

Arnold in the US found that at age 12 about 94% of children believed in god,

but that this number dropped to 78% among 18 year olds. A likely

explanation for this drop is that, as children age and become more educated,

their critical thinking skills develop further and they are more likely to apply

these skills their own beliefs (Lynn et al, 2009).

While it is quite apparent that there is in fact a negative relationship

between intelligence and many different definitions of religious belief, it is

not quite so obvious why such a correlation should exist in the first place,

and many have attempted to explain it. Many have accepted the explanation

posited by Frazer in 1922, that “the keener minds came to reject the

religious theory of nature as inadequate…religion, regarded as an

explanation of nature, is replaced by science,” and in fact the majority of

explanations seem to stick to this central logic (Lynn et al, 2009). Similarly,

upon finding a decrease in religiosity as children age, Kuhlen and Arnold

theorized that “greater intellectual maturity might be expected to increase

skepticism in matters of religion.” Essentially, the majority of these

explanations focus on the increase in critical thinking and scientific

understanding that go with increased intelligence. Those with higher

intelligence are more likely to question their beliefs, to not accept what they

are told without thinking (though this is not limited to merely religious beliefs
and ideas). Conversely, it may be that those who are less intelligent are less

likely to question their beliefs or apply scientific thinking to them and are

thus more likely to accept religious beliefs. Blind faith in religion, it would

seem, could be associated with lower levels of intelligence.

Another explanation for the decline in religiosity is the theory of

Inglehart and Welzel, who state that the reason religion was (and is) so

prevalent is that “[preindustrial societies] seek to compensate their lack of

physical control by appealing to the metaphysical powers that seem to

control the world” (Lynn et al, 2009). They state that the cause for the

present decrease in religious beliefs “is that an increasing sense of

technological control over nature diminishes the need for reliance on

supernatural powers” (Lynn et al, 2009). Essentially, Inglehart and Welzel

believe that the decline in religious belief as intelligence rises is because

science and technology have given humanity much more control over our

surroundings and given us a greater understanding of our universe,

lessening our need to rely on religion for answers to the unknown. This,

however, would only explain the decrease in religious beliefs over time as

science replaces religion and decrease in religion as children age, not current

trends in intelligence and religion, such as the negative correlation between

the two and the disproportionate number of scientists who disbelieve.

While the reason for the negative relationship between intelligence

and religious beliefs may not be completely understood yet, it is important to

understand that it exists. As (or if) the Flynn effect continues and our
populations continue to become more and more intelligent, understanding

what this relationship means for religion may become more and more

important. Perhaps with a better understanding of this relationship one could

attempt to calculate the rate with which religious belief is declining.

Similarly, as science continues to discover new and exciting answers to

questions previously only answered by religion, continued investigation of

the current trends in religious beliefs also seems of the utmost importance.

Religion has brought great comfort and support to millions (if not billions) of

people, but it has also played a role in some of the most violent and

despicable acts ever perpetrated on this planet, and understanding its role in

the 21st century and beyond is of the utmost importance.

 References

Beckwith, B. (1986). The Effect of Intelligence on Religious Faith. Free

Inquiry, (1).

Francis, L. (1989). Measuring attitude towards Christianity during childhood

and adolescence. Personality and Individual Differences, 10(6), 695-
698.

Larsen, E. L., &Witham, L. (1996). Scientists are still keeping the faith.
Nature, 386, 435-436.

Larsen, E. L., &Witham, L. (1998). Leading scientists still reject God. Nature,
394, 313.

Lynn, R., Harvey, J., & Nyborg, H. (2009, January). Average intelligence
predicts atheism rates across 137 nations. Intelligence, 37(1), 11-15.

Zuckerman, P. (2007). Atheism: Contemporary numbers and patterns. The

Cambridge companion to atheism (pp. 47-65). New York, NY US:
Cambridge University Press.