Is religion making us all stupid ?

[Dawnofhope]

Maybe it is what he means, but it is not true.

Communism based on Marxism is a utopain economic theory that viewed religion at best a fiction, at worse an opiate to the masses has been largely discredited. It seemed like a great idea at the time! Maybe some forms of atheism can be as destructive as some forms of religion.

 

[LuisDantas]

Communism based on Marxism is a utopain economic theory that viewed religion at best a fiction, at worse an opiate to the masses has been largely discredited. It seemed like a great idea at the time! Maybe some forms of atheism can be as destructive as some forms of religion.

I don't think you are paying this matter a lot of attention.

 

[Dawnofhope]

I don't think you are paying this matter a lot of attention.

It has at least 10% of my attention. That's a lot.

 

[Fisher]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid, just look at the world today, what the......is happening, we all seem to be going backwards, so yes, what do you think, are we getting more stupid, I believe we are.

imo stupidity has nothing to do with a religion in common. For me its about these types of zeitgeist which will eventually claim that it will be better if others would follow a new, or reinvented old, movement. It can't be prevented the "new" always will ignore the "old" throughtout every generation and that a few times. Not because they are ignorants but the "new" wants to walk another path to make it better. "backward" and "forward" are just attributes of the path people occasionally reinvent as the old seems to stagnates them or sometimes just got to "normal". Its a call for the other extreme to live.

Are you familiar with the spiral dynamics?

1) Spiral Dynamics makes use of memetic theory, building upon Dawkins’ work on memes. In SD lingo, it’s called vMemes.

2) Spiral Dynamics is compatible with Dawkins’ critique of religion and morality. Its human and cultural development theory is compatible with Darwinian evolution as well (i.e. memes, life conditions, etc.)

from: Review: The God Delusion: Memes, Moral Zeitgeist, and Spiral Dynamics < ~C4Chaos

eidt: Sorry, i am non-native speaker and this went throught the google translator

 

[JakofHearts]

As Benjamin Franklin once said, "We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."

 

[Terese]

Nope! I'm living breathing proof of that!

 

[omega2xx]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid, just look at the world today, what the......is happening, we all seem to be going backwards, so yes, what do you think, are we getting more stupid, I believe we are.

We are getting more stupid but the reason is we are getting farther away from God.

 

[Vinayaka]

I don't think its accurate to lump religions together. Yes, some religions encourage a simplistic dogmatic good/bad world view, while other religions encourage exploration to the nth degree. To lump religions all together under the banner of 'religion' simply means you haven't studied some of them out very much.

 

[Quintessence]

To the OP:

1. Define "stupid" and how it can be measured in an objective, impartial fashion
2. Define "religion" and how it can measured in an objective, impartial fashion
3. Show us data that demonstrates that "stupid" and "religion" have a statistically significant relationship after controlling for all confounding variables, such as standard demographics, socioeconomic factors, differential access to education, personal preferences, genetic heritage, cultural norms, and most challenging of all the sheer diversity of world religions and the expression thereof.

As someone wisely pointed out already, this can't be done. Not only is there no good standard metric for "intelligence" (and by extension, for "stupidity"), there is definitely no good standard metric for "religion." I'm sorry, but this thread is just so much vacuous anti-religious whining and I cannot take it at all seriously. And neither should anyone else.

 

[George-ananda]

Yes this is the paradox, this is the frustration with language that I have to communicate to you.

OK, well, for me, I'll keep it simple and just say I believe in non-dualism beyond reasonable doubt and leave it at that. And I don't think it has made me stupid.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

We are getting more stupid but the reason is we are getting farther away from God.

The problem is, people would probably not see themselves as stupid if they are not told they are if they are not close enough to god.

I know if I were god, I rather someone be honest with themselves and not believe in me then playing a slave to try to fool themselves in prayer and hope they they some day will. It's a waste of time and effort. I know after awhile parents learn to let their children be (In America) but if I were god, I'd had to do the same thing. No hard feelings on one person who loves me and the other who does not.

Honesty, humbleness, and respect are key here. In political-religion there is no such thing.

I cant count so many of the post statements like the one you post from many many posters Christians, Muslims, and even atheists! that devalue the choice of a person to choose how he wants to live his life, to who or what he wants to base his life on and/or serve, and to what he wants to learn more about what he does not.

 

[Acim]

Religion, no. Politics, yes.

I rarely met people who are religious. I just meet people who turn their religion into politics.

People get the two mixed up all the time. The Church kind of helped with that among other people throughout history that the term religious like other words are becoming so derogatory it can't be seen in a positive light for its actual definition not the political bias and connotations added to it.

With the information age comes the ease of mixing religion with politics

AND

mixing science with politics.

Which has lead to a whole lot of righteousness on the part of many people who think if you can't accept their version of knowledge, then something is really wrong with you and you deserve to be marginalized, defunded, ignored, criticized for the trolling you are engaged in for simply not agreeing with the righteous view.

Which is what makes (some to many of) us appear stupid.

 

[allfoak]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid, just look at the world today, what the......is happening, we all seem to be going backwards, so yes, what do you think, are we getting more stupid, I believe we are.

Religion is a good scapegoat for many of the world's problems.
How ironic!

scape·goat
ˈskāpˌɡōt/
noun
noun: scapegoat; plural noun: scapegoats

1. 1.
   (in the Bible) a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it (Lev. 16).
   • a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.
     synonyms: whipping boy; More
     informalfall guy, patsy
     "find yourself another scapegoat"

verb
verb: scapegoat; 3rd person present: scapegoats; past tense: scapegoated; past participle: scapegoated; gerund or present participle: scapegoating

1. 1.
   make a scapegoat of.

 

[viole]

Is religion making us all stupid ?

I tested my IQ before and after accepting Advaita philosophy: Up 3 points which seems to refute your theory.

Wow, 300% increase.

Just kidding of course. I could not resist.

Ciao

- viole

 

[Iti oj]

Do you consider Advaita (non-dual=God and creation are not-two) thinking to be a religion?

I wouldn't unless the advaita I was talking to did.

 

[rusra02]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid, just look at the world today, what the......is happening, we all seem to be going backwards, so yes, what do you think, are we getting more stupid, I believe we are.

I believe false religions do blind people to truths that should be obvious. Not mental deficiency but moral and spiritual darkness result from false religions, IMO. On the other hand, the true religion, the truth enlightens, imparting wisdom, knowledge, and real hope.

 

[columbus]

Yes I thought that, but in the last few years, I really do think that we are going backwards, and its scary, these idiots can be very scary to our free life that we all love to live. .

Religion is sort of like Google.
You can ask any question whatsoever and get a lot of answers. The answers may not be true, or even rational, but many will be asserted with complete confidence.
Tom

 

[metis]

Generally speaking, scientists tend to make lousy orthodox theists, if they're theists at all.

However, I certainly do not share in the outlandish belief cited in the OP.

 

[omega2xx]

The problem is, people would probably not see themselves as stupid if they are not told they are if they are not close enough to god.

I know if I were god, I rather someone be honest with themselves and not believe in me then playing a slave to try to fool themselves in prayer and hope they they some day will. It's a waste of time and effort. I know after awhile parents learn to let their children be (In America) but if I were god, I'd had to do the same thing. No hard feelings on one person who loves me and the other who does not.

Honesty, humbleness, and respect are key here. In political-religion there is no such thing.

I cant count so many of the post statements like the one you post from many many posters Christians, Muslims, and even atheists! that devalue the choice of a person to choose how he wants to live his life, to who or what he wants to base his life on and/or serve, and to what he wants to learn more about what he does not.

When I says "stupid" I don mean intellectually stupid, I mean spiritually stupid. It is not so much that people don't believe in God, it is the animosity and ridicule of God and Christians. It is the goal of some to remove all mentions of God out of our public life.

Those who do not believe are not evil people. IMO those who hate and ridicule God and Christianity are.


My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...Hosea 4:6a

 

[omega2xx]

OK, well, for me, I'll keep it simple and just say I believe in non-dualism beyond reasonable doubt and leave it at that. And I don't think it has made me stupid.

This is interesting. I believe advaita is a form of Hinduism, which has more gods than most religions.