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  LiveWire / Teen Forums / The Intellectual Forum / Viewing Topic

Religious people are generally stupider but happier.
Replies: 82Last Post Jan. 8, 2007 12:31pm by Wilder
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Choice Votes Percent  
I agree with statement A 19 17%
I agree with statement B 21 19%
I agree with statements A and B 35 32%
I agree with neither statement A nor B 33 30%
Vote Now! 108 Votes Cast
n0thing


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On that point, yeah, it's possible. Also possible is the fact that the more intelligent person with the higher paying job has a more stressful job! As in, which is more stressful: Fast food worker or ER Surgeon? I'd say the latter. I mean, it's really a complicated thing.

Yeah. So, intelligent people are more likely to ahve job stress, while unintelligent people will generally have more financial stress. Financial stress can lead to a lot of other problems, including drinking and messed up relationships.
But, job stress will probably do the same.
All in all, I don't think that there is a good correlation between happiness and intelligence. At least, not without establishing strong definitions of happiness.

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2:37 pm on Oct. 31, 2006 | Joined Oct. 2006 | 76 Days Active
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( Khadgar )


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Well anyway, thanks to everyone who put in a thoughtful reply. I'm glad there wasn't any flaming in here. I actually expected a bit more, seeing as how I tried to make my topic title insulting to people, so they'd be more likely to respond. Looks like my idea of putting it in the intellectual forum worked, for the most part, though. It looks like, according to the poll, that things fell right as I figured they would. People are split between the two major options pretty closely. This is too small of a sample to really mean anything, though.

Just to clear things up one final time, I never meant to imply that being religious makes one dumb, nor that being dumb makes one happy, and any combination of them. I merely meant to state if there was, in fact, some correlation between them. For whatever reasons, maybe it's socioeconomic status, or upbringing, or some combination of many many factors, I believed that there was a correlation.

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Long live love, and all her glory.


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Hoop Jargon


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Religious people being less intelligent could be a bit of a generalisation,  in fact it's probably a fundamentally unjust statement to make.    Your perception of what religious people are must be typecast to what is the 'christian right' in America,  and how it may be portrayed on television.   Religious people are very intelligent,   one could argue religion had a very large hand in building what we know as civilisation?  

Leonardo was an extremely dogmatic Catholic and he was probably one of the smartest people of all time.  


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marvelous


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Ooh, I'm going to be politically incorrect and say that yes, I believe that as a generalisation your little diagrams hold quite a bit of truth. It goes without saying that there are exceptions. But to some degree, I think the majority of people belonging to that controversial crowd of intellects are on the whole not quite as content with their lives. I think they feel they have too much of an understanding of what's happening to be amused by it. And yeah, I'm with you on religiousness too. Smart people like to be shit disturbers, and that means saying "prove it" to the Bible (and all other aspects of religion).
It's true, it really is, but I don't want to sound like being sad or atheist is some sort of symptom of spectacular intelligence or anything.

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Quote: from Hoop Jargon at 6:48 pm on Oct. 31, 2006

Religious people being less intelligent could be a bit of a generalisation,  in fact it's probably a fundamentally unjust statement to make.    Your perception of what religious people are must be typecast to what is the 'christian right' in America,  and how it may be portrayed on television.   Religious people are very intelligent,   one could argue religion had a very large hand in building what we know as civilisation?    

Leonardo was an extremely dogmatic Catholic and he was probably one of the smartest people of all time.  


Unjust? Why?

No, my perception of religion comes from what I know about religion, and the religious and philosophy text that I've read, in addition to the media, and my personal experiences with religious people.

And I will concede that historically religious people may have been smarter than normal people. Perhaps in the earliest times, they were smarter simply because they could invent such a tale to tell. Maybe later it was being religious that caused them to be smarter, as typically it was those in the church who could read, and excuse me if I attribute reading to improving one's intelligence. Maybe later, it could have been reversed, as as the smartest and brightest were chosen to attend higher education, which was typically (I think) used to educate the religious leaders. However, now, as information is widely accessible, at least in 'developed' nations, where the religious and nonreligious have the same rights, and same access to said information, the playing field is leveled. Being religious does not grant you access to a cache of hidden knowledge, and the same is true for nonreligiousness. I was making this statement about the present, not the past.

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Long live love, and all her glory.


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Hoop Jargon


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Well thats the point I was making,  generalisations suck.   Intelligence isn't a variable on wether you are religious or not,   It comes from natural ability and practice.   Alot of Religious people are extremely unhappy,   especially dogmatic Catholics,   and those who have nothing left but god.  

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TheOtherHorseman


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This is all based on completely subjective speculation. It isn't worth arguing against because you haven't said anything substantial. This notion isn't supported with anything even resembling actual evidence. This is just you saying "ololol maybe religious ppl are dumber cause i was thinking and this is what i thought."

One can't say religious people on the whole are dumber any more than one can say they are smarter. Without any studies to back it up, you'd all just be blowing smoke up eachother's asses because you'd be making massively stupid generalizations from subjective observations on a limited sample.

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Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"


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the dugout


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I wouldn't say happyness.

Rather 'contentment'.

Religious people know what they believe in and don't, thus they are more content and certain about what their place is in the 'greater scheme'.


Intellectuals (scientists), by nature, question the 'greater scheme', otherwise they woudn't be scientists. This creates more uncertainty.


9:18 am on Nov. 4, 2006 | Joined Dec. 2004 | 328 Days Active
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the dugout


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But happynes... no. Lots of religious people are completely miserable, and viceversa.

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LinZ


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Sorry, but I consider anyone stupid who worships a spirit that has done nothing for them worthy of worship. Last I knew, you give thanks to someone after they've done something for you, not vice versa. Then it's just pointless.

Religious people may be 'happier' because they have the support of their imaginary deities - they need God or whoever as their crutch and for justification of their decisions. Having some kind of almighty imaginary friend to worship and pray to makes them feel more secure because they believe they will eventually be rewarded for their prayers and good deeds.

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Wilder


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Quote: from LinZ at 12:16 pm on Nov. 5, 2006

Sorry, but I consider anyone stupid who worships a spirit that has done nothing for them worthy of worship. Last I knew, you give thanks to someone after they've done something for you, not vice versa. Then it's just pointless.

Religious people may be 'happier' because they have the support of their imaginary deities - they need God or whoever as their crutch and for justification of their decisions. Having some kind of almighty imaginary friend to worship and pray to makes them feel more secure because they believe they will eventually be rewarded for their prayers and good deeds.



Hey, you know who has a signature?

I have a signature.

You know who's signature might be applicable you masturbating this pseudo-intellectual half-thoughts all over us?

I do.

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rosemarygirl2002


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As with anything, there are exceptions. On the whole, I orginally voted for neither A or B, simply thinking about the few notable exceptions that I have known. The majority of good friends that I have who are religious are very intelligent, but most of my friends are. I live in a science and engineering themed dorm, go figure. Though, I have known a lot of people who were really dumb and didn't have a clue about any religion really at all. So I think there are probably a large number of not-so-smart religious people and an equal or perhaps greater number of not-so-smart people without a clue about religion.

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wootbeans


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I disagree with both of statements. I believe that ignorant people experience negative emotions just as much as intelligent people.
I consider myself intelligent, but I hope there is something beyond the physical realm. It would be better to choose what your next life is and in what universe you'll be in than to just to cease to exist. I am not into the whole worshiping thing. If there is a god that wants you to worship it and will make you suffer for all of eternity if you don't then it has the maturity level of a 2-year-old.

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Shuee


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People who are not religious are guilty of "ignoring the importance religion plays in our lives" Thus, people who are NOT religious are stupider and sad.

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do something!

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MachinegunHead

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Quote: from Shuee at 9:13 am on Nov. 12, 2006

People who are not religious are guilty of "ignoring the importance religion plays in our lives" Thus, people who are NOT religious are stupider and sad.

Religion only plays an important role in one's life if he lets it.

With that said, your statement is completely unsupported and doesn't really follow any logic...

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