Analytic thinking can decrease religious belief

[Apone]

Here's an interesting study that suggests that religious people are using an intuitive cognitive system 'that relies on mental shortcuts to yield fast and efficient responses', as opposed to 'a more “analytic” system that yields more deliberate, reasoned responses'.

http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/201...king-can-decrease-religious-belief-ubc-study/

Not that this is wholly surprising, but it is surprising that, according to the study, the use of reason actually undermines religious belief. They're not certain about whether it does so in the long or in the short term, however. I wonder if the opposite is also true? I would guess that it is.

 

[Poetic Justice]

Don't need to read the article

Really this is a QFT moment. Obvious really

 

[Billy]

Yesh, it seems the smarter you are, the more educated, the less religious. This is quite obvious.

 

[Apone]

I don't think it's about how intelligent you are... and it's hard to say if there is a lot to discuss here or not, but for me it is interesting that the two types of thought actually seem to be incompatible, as opposed to there being situations where one can actually compliment or augment the other.

 

[Poetic Justice]

There are many types of intelligence

Critical thinking is just one of them. It's certainly a good one though

 

[Billy]

Wait, im confused which part about faith is intelligent?

 

[Poetic Justice]

Wait, im confused which part about faith is intelligent?

Being religious doesn't stop you from being creative, having a good memory, being good at maths, having good spacial awareness and so on

 

[Billy]

Being religious doesn't stop you from being creative, having a good memory, being good at maths, having good spacial awareness and so on

No, it doesn't end your potential. It just dictates what you do with it in a very limited and narrow way. In a way for me that's kind of unintelligent. Of course that's just my opinion though.

 

[Poetic Justice]

No, it doesn't end your potential. It just dictates what you do with it in a very limited and narrow way. In a way for me that's kind of unintelligent. Of course that's just my opinion though.

Mine too. It's a well documented fact that atheists and agnosticists are on average more intelligent than religious types

 

[tfg345i4u5lw]

Yesh, it seems the smarter you are, the more educated, the less religious. This is quite obvious.

Not true. Some of the brightest minds in history were also religious and spiritual people. Also sometimes Atheists are too stupid to realize that they are religious themselves, Atheists just see their religion as the only truth and so they reject everything else. All the science they learn is just from books that were written by men. I guess what I'm trying to say is that none of us know jack shit. Humans can't help but form religions IMO, it's how we build societies. We have replaced the 10 commandments with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But it's still the same shit. It's just guidelines and rules for building civilizations. Even if you don't realize it you have a religion.

 

[Billy]

Not true. Some of the brightest minds in history were also religious and spiritual people. Also sometimes Atheists are too stupid to realize that they are religious themselves, Atheists just see their religion as the only truth and so they reject everything else. All the science they learn is just from books that were written by men. I guess what I'm trying to say is that none of us know jack shit. Humans can't help but form religions IMO, it's how we build societies. We have replaced the 10 commandments with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But it's still the same shit. It's just guidelines and rules for building civilizations. Even if you don't realize it you have a religion.

lol... just lol

 

[tfg345i4u5lw]

Just lol... okay

 

[Billy]

Just lol... okay

I may be interested in hearing who you think was one of the brightest minds that was religious, because thats an interesting topic, the rest I was lol-ing at because it was kind of ridiculous.

 

[tfg345i4u5lw]

I may be interested in hearing who you think was one of the brightest minds that was religious, because thats an interesting topic, the rest I was lol-ing at because it was kind of ridiculous.

Gandhi was pretty sick. So was Martin Luther King.

 

[tfg345i4u5lw]

I may be interested in hearing who you think was one of the brightest minds that was religious, because thats an interesting topic, the rest I was lol-ing at because it was kind of ridiculous.

"A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man." (Albert Einstein)

 

[Billy]

Gandhi was pretty sick. So was Martin Luther King.

What religion was Ghandi? And have you heard the rumors that MLK was an Atheist Christian? Meaning, he didn't believe but used the church (blacks are very christian in the US) as a means for moving his goals forward? I thought you were going to say Kepler or something.

 

[Jack]

 

[Poetic Justice]

"A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man." (Albert Einstein)

And his belief in god prevented him accepting some of the fundemental principles of quantum mechanics. Had he not believed, his contributions to science would have been even greater

 

[Billy]

"A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man." (Albert Einstein)

Albert Einstein was an atheist... please do not propagate this lie.

On 22 March 1954 Einstein received a letter from J. Dispentiere, an Italian immigrant who had worked as an experimental machinist in New Jersey. Dispentiere had declared himself an atheist and was disappointed by a news report which had cast Einstein as conventionally religious. Einstein replied on 24 March 1954:

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
​

 

[tfg345i4u5lw]

What religion was Ghandi? And have you heard the rumors that MLK was an Atheist Christian? Meaning, he didn't believe but used the church (blacks are very christian in the US) as a means for moving his goals forward? I thought you were going to say Kepler or something.

I think he was Hindu. And no I haven't heard those rumors about MLK.