Skip to main content
Post a Comment

No Mention of Intelligence or Poverty

Although many people are quick to point out the supposed benefits to religion, few people mention its relation to intelligence, or at least, lack thereof. Generally, the highly intelligent are not religious, and I have heard from some religious spokespeople, that their ranks are coming from the least intelligent. Considering America's dismal performance on international comparisons of academic abilities, i.e., TIMSS- 12th grade (near adult, when it really matters), one could wonder if the swing to the right had more to do with ignorance than with any supposed benefit.

From my own, non-academic, statistical analysis, educational performance seems to be related to levels of economic inequality, such that countries with higher Gini coefficients, measures of economic inequality, have lower TIMSS performance and lower IQ. The US has the highest Gini coefficient in the developed world. Additionally, you could recognize that religion is seemingly the salve to poverty. China's rural poor are turning to Falun Gong, and in some ways, something similar is happening here, such that the rural and economically disenfranchised are turning to god.

I have not vetted the following for veracity, but following are links supporting the the IQ correlation:

IQ by Religiosity (Country)

http://www.w-uh.com/posts/031226a-religion_vs_IQ.html

Intelligence and Religious beliefs - Studies (redundant)

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-thinkingchristians.htm

http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Jesus/Intelligence%20&%20religion.htm

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, Third Edition

Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, Third Edition by Geert Hofstede My rating: 4 of 5 stars A detailed and fascinating review of Hofstede's dimensions, by the researcher himself, showing broad high-level insights into history and culture, although a bit tedious, as it often describes in detail relationships many of us implicitly understand. View all my reviews
Post a Comment
Read more

Global Warming and Methane Reduction

I was an ovolactovegetarian for several years in my twenties, in the late 1980's, but the lack of convenient food sources, social pressure, and mild athletic anemia, pushed me to adopt more meat-oriented diet. Also, being an insulin-dependent diabetic, eating low-fat, low-carbohydrate protein sources reduced my need for injections. Over time, I have returned to vegetarianism, although my reasons are grounded in self-interest and concern for the environment. My energy consumption is relatively low, as I live in a major city and very selectively use automobiles for transportation. Lately though, I have been reminded that domesticated animals are large contributors to global warming (methane creation) and inefficient protein producers (4 to 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat). Additionally, vegetarianism, and related calorie reduction, are associated with increased longevity. Both have pushed my back to vegetarianism. Regardless of the history, vegetarianism is a better c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Daily Fantasy Fools

The NY Times ran a piece on daily fantasy sports , of which I felt the need to say something: #1: The skilled and privileged taking advantage of the stupid and the ill. #2: I remember being disgusted after reading how a startup founder for Box targeted the biggest losers on a poker site to raise 100K for his venture. Well, you could think him smart, or you could think him corrupt, taking advantage of the stupid and addicted, but regardless, do you want to buy anything from him, knowing that his path to success is based on taking advantage of others? Eventually, that means taking advantage of you...
Post a Comment
Read more