New Study Debunks Claims Linking Religious Faith and Intelligence

"Smart thinking" solves a knotty problem and shapes a savvy approach to life. But does being smart mean having no religious faith, as some psychologists assert? A recent study of teens found no link between religious faith and low intelligence, countering this view.

This study of 711 students ages 15 to 16 from schools throughout England found "no evidence of a relationship, either positive or negative, between intelligence and religiosity," found Dr. Leslie Francis of the University of Wales Lampeter.

For decades psychologists claimed religious beliefs meant lower intelligence, Dr. Francis noted. For instance, M. Argyle asserted four decades ago that "intelligent students are much less likely to accept orthodox beliefs, and rather less likely to have pro-religious attitudes."

Dr. Francis traced this to Freud, an avowed atheist, who asserted that "religious beliefs are magical and irrational and not conducive to the development of the rational intellect."

Yet some research--like this study--investigated Freud's opinion and found it faulty. These studies found that religious faith and intelligence were independent of each other and holding religious beliefs did not necessarily mean a low IQ.

In this recent study students were given intelligence tests designed to assess their ability to form comparisons, reason by analogy, and develop a logical method of thinking. These tested the ability to reason and solve problems with new information without highly relying on a particular knowledge base, which might vary among schools and personal experience. Many experts consider this measure to be among the purest measures of intelligence.

These students also filled out a scale of 24 questions used in 100 other studies as a reliable measure regarding their feelings about religious beliefs such as God, the Bible, Jesus, prayer, and church. The study also took into account the student¼s social class.

When intelligence and religious attitudes were compared, Dr. Francis found no links: "These statistics confirm there is no significant relationship between intelligence and attitude toward Christianity." Also, no connection appeared between attitude toward Christianity and social class.

Two other studies totaling more than 9,200 children ages 9 to 11 found no relationship between school assigned IQ ratings and attending church or praying once paternal social class was taken into account.

"These three studies clearly challenge" the views of psychologists summed up by Argyle that more intelligent students are much less likely to be religious, Dr. Francis commented.

"The major conclusion to emerge from these data," he added, "concerns the absence of a significant relationship between intelligence and attitude toward Christianity."

Reference: Francis, Leslie J. "The Relationship Between Intelligence and Religiosity Among 15-16-Year-Olds," Mental Health, Religion and Culture 1998; 1(2): 185-196. 1 Argyle, M. Religious Behavior, London 1958: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 2 Freud, S. The Future of an Illusion, New Haven 1950: Yale University Press 3 Francis, L.J "School Influence and Pupil Attitude Towards Religion." British Journal of Educational Psychology 1979; 49: 107-123; and 4 Francis, L.J "Denominational Schools and Pupil Attitude Towards Christianity." British Educational Research Journal 1986; 49: 145-152