Ted Jackson #fundie quora.com

“Are atheists more intelligent than believers?”

Actually, the evidence is that atheists are less intelligent than believers. Refusing to believe something does not require brains. True: doubting is an activity of intelligence, but very few atheists ever doubt anything. They simply withhold belief — which is not an activity at all, and not indicative of intelligence.

Refusing to believe, on its own, is connected with the stubbornness of the mule. Refusing to believe something, withholding belief, is not a behavior connected to rationality. Again: actively doubting and questioning is the behavior of intelligence. But atheists do not generally do this. They simply withhold belief — a behavior that does not require even understanding.

There are people who are deeply perplexed and questioning of dogma of all kinds. They actively question and examine all views, including their own. But these are not atheists or theists. These are agnostics. (And don’t give me any “agnostic atheist” B.S.)

One can very clearly see, using Quora as an example, that atheists are not a deeply rational lot, not very curious, not very inquiring. They are not investigators, worriers, skeptics. They are not analytical. They are not skeptical. They do not question. They are simply “withhold belief.” That, and ridicule others who don’t withhold belief.

And skepticism, questioning, analysis, wonder, as mental characteristics, are some of the signs of a truly intelligent person. And those characteristics are much more common among religious people, who, wrong or right, are deeply concerned with life and death issues. That fact alone justifies an inference that god believers are more intelligent than so-called “atheists.”

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Confused?

So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!

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