According to Richard Lynn, a psychology professor at the University of Ulster in Ireland, the decline in religious observance is directly due related to the rise in average intelligence. Not surprisingly, Lynn has encountered a lot of criticism for this claim, but he is not unfamiliar with this type of controversy. He has also supported controversial research that links intelligence to race and gender. But, he reached his conclusion based upon a survey of The Royal Society, which serves as the academy of science in the UK. Only 3.3 percent of these people believed in God.
Here’s the link: http://www.wmconnect.com/whatsnew/default.jsp?story=20080720-0700
Nothing too terribly surprising. From my experience, a lot of academics (teachers, etc.) seem to not believe, but I don’t necessarily buy the whole “academics representing the entire intelligent population.” There are plenty of people with high IQs who would not be considered “academics.” I think skepticism is an inherent trait of academia. The more a person learns or is taught, the more they are going to question things the around them; it’s a natural result of learning. And what exactly can you expect when you poll a bunch of science scholars as to the existence of God? Science and religion have never really co-existed all that well. Certainly a scientist is going to be less likely to accept something that cannot be proven. I agree with Lynn’s hypothesis in general, but I can’t help but be skeptical of the range of evidence.
