Why is there this BIG misconception that the highly educated do not believe in God?

I don't think it is a misconception to be fair. I saw statistics that said atheism among professionals in technology and science fields has increased in the last 20 years or so. I'll try and find a link - but it will take a while. Hang on x

Quote of the day :D

"Religion is much more important to Americans than to people living in other wealthy nations. Six-in-ten (59%) people in the U.S. say religion plays a very important role in their lives. This is roughly twice the percentage of self-avowed religious people in Canada (30%), and an even higher proportion when compared with Japan and Western Europe. Americans' views are closer to people in developing nations than to the publics of developed nations."

Must have a pretty sh*t education system out there.

NOT believing in God is an item in science. Believing is not. Hence you hear more about (from) the atheists than 'the others' who either believe or just don't have a particular interest in sharing anything on the subject.

It is a mantra.

It is used by many evolutionists that keep saying: "You either believe in evolution or in 'the bible'. You can not have both. If you are an intelligent being you have to believe in evolution. "

It is the same thing as the improved IQ test:

You have to guess if you have a high or a low IQ and if you get it right you have a high IQ.

Hence it came to pass that on that faithless day a new religion came to be and with all their might they denied the existence of God.

Strange at it may seem, and literally impossible as religion means 'connecting with God', denying God is also religion if you do it as faithfully as that. I respect any atheist that can prove science is right. And if the can't I respect them even more.

I would say that it is quite simple that a questioning mind searches for answers, and does not except those provided by thing which are arguable.

The generally problem with the idea of the word of god from a non religious point of view is that the source is that of the words of men written in texts, written by men.

Whereas belief is much more a case of not questioning but, faith in the words of others.

It is true that there are many forms of belief and many people have concepts of god which are outside of the religious dogma which is so often taught.

I am speaking as a European and things seem to be very different over here, it is quite rare to find people who will state that they are believers or non believers in fact it is much more common for the agnostic point of view here, which is not so much a question of doubt as to the existed of god, as sometimes it seems perceived to be in this forum, but more an acceptance of well there could be! but life goes on.

I truly feel sorry for the people of the USA in this sense. It is almost as though they are fighting a war, in fact it is an Ideological war and one that we in Europe have already faced and arrived on the whole to a state of live and let live.

Actually, there are many well educated people who do not believe in a god. The percentage of people who do not believe in god, at least in the West, seems to increase with the level of education. I can't recall the exact studies at the moment, but if anyone presses me, I'll look them up for you.

Still, that does not mean that god is real only to uneducated masses; I know many briliant people who do believe in god. It simply means that the percentage of highly educated people who do not believe in god is higher than those of average education.

I've got a decent education and I'm a Pagan. That's probably weirder for many people. How can I believe in all that magick mumbo-jumbo? The point is that while there are trends, they don't define the entire population. There can be brilliant and foolish pagans, Christians, atheists and Pagans. It's a spectrum, and it's part of what keeps things interesting.

I have seen some research numbers on this and find some truth in it. The question is what the numbers mean. As a Christian myself who is rather intelligent (IQ over 150) but self educated I may have a more personal insight into this issue. Although part of the answer may be in the nature of the education the issue has more to do with wealth and poverty.

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/religion_...

additional comments:

As per the article, the level of IQ can also be linked to the level of wealth. Wealthy people can afford higher education and score better on IQ tests. Poor people more often have to work to pay rent and higher education takes a back seat to simply surviving.

We should also think about what an IQ test measures. It mainly measures math and language skills. What about the other forms of intelligence? Namely kinesthetic, interpersonal, naturalistic, intrapersonal, spatial, musical, existential and spiritual.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_in...

Does an IQ test measure character; things like honesty, loyalty, generosity, charity, hopefulness, faithfulness, perseverance, diligence, justice and so forth? These are things that are stressed within religion and are greatly valued by those of lower economic status. Hence, religion is more greatly valued among the poor. Jesus said that it was easier for "a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven". I think this is because so many people attain and maintain wealth by less than honest means. I think of Enron and the like.

Now, when you grow up poor like I did then you find yourself praying to God for every little thing, even food and a place to live. And, when you quit highschool to work at McDonald's to pay the electric bill so they don't cut it off again and to pay rent so you don't get kicked out of the apartment you live in, then what happens to your higher education? So, I strongly believe that religion is more important to poor people and those folks are the ones with less education and do poorly on IQ tests. This does not mean that rich people with more education and high IQ scores do not value religion, just that they don't value it as much. I mean, if you have a nice well paying job, a nice safe home and a full tummy, what do you need God for?

Highly educated

Some 3000 years ago this is what God said to JOb

"Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?

Can you loose the cords of Orion?"

In other words, 3000 years ago they knew that the peiades were getting closer

and that the orion constellation was drifiting apart

how did they know that?

and when did modern science know about it?

and if so, do you reckjon someone in the middle of the desert who was able to know something like this was somehow unable to work out the world was round and that the earth goes around the sun?

ancient knowledge vs the modern myth of how stupid they were to explain how stupid we have become

There are a lot of well educated people who believe in God.

I think the grounds for this general misconception is because of stereotyping. There are a lot of uneducated people or poorly educated people who do believe in God and they can be rather vocal and somewhat funny. Some of them look like they are possessed by the devil, rolling around the floor, speaking in tongues, etc. Sorry, I guess I'm a snob. I love to see and hear Gospel singing and the way people enjoy singing or the organ in the church, but it pains me to see this other kind thing. Also, educated people often do believe in God, but a lot of ignorant and religious people seem to have a war going against science. "It's not logical, Captain!"

Because intellect is the bastion of atheism.

On a side note, what is "good" and why? If there is no Absolute, then all morality is subjective. I'm not attempting to start a philosophical war here; I am merely trying to emphasize the fact that without an Absolute the words "good" and "bad" are ultimately meaningless.

You seem like a very sincere, kind-hearted person. You also seem quite open-minded which is refreshing. Might I suggest a bit of reading? It opened my eyes to many things I had never noticed before. Here's a link:

http://www.philosophyforlife.com/mc01.htm

P.S. I thoroughly agree with you about fundamentalist Christianity. Many of its adherents, though often well-intentioned, seem to have forgotten (if they ever knew) the meaning of the word "tact."

I love you using "onegaishimasu" That's just very cute...please. XD

On to my answer. I've seen so many nasty answers in this category. Claiming that people who have faith in God are ignorant or stupid. I don't think they know how hurtful it is, especially when the person is only asking a polite legitimate question, looking for respectful honest answers.

We all need to be more tolerant of each other.

Thank you for bringing up the issue. =)

Ja-ne

Basically, the more educated or intelligent one is, the more likely they will use their brain and start asking questions.

Questions such as why there are so many errors, mistakes and contradictions in the bible. Questions such as has any other human being risen from the dead other than Jesus & Lazarus in the last 2000 years. The answer is NO. Which means it probably goes against the rules of nature and physics. So its more likely that Jesus did not die on the cross, and Lazarus was just in a coma for a few days.

Those sorts of questions. For those people who choose to NOT ask those questions, well, we "atheists" look on them as unintelligent.