Are religious people stupid, theifs, and murderers?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Demeter
  • Start date Start date
  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
D

Demeter

Guest
kpb5A.png


I have read an article that states there is a correlation between a low IQ and religiousness, however correlation does not imply causation it is still an interesting theory. I won't go into detail but looking at this picture it is clear that there seems to be something in common with religiousness, IQ, murder, poverty, and theft.


SO, what do you guys think of this data? what does it mean? is there a link between IQ, religiousness and poverty?
 
I think that religousness is a very broad term when it comes to statistics. To quote my father, "there are lies and there are statistics". I think to explain poverty a lot of people seek Christ (hopefully) because they dont have much to distract them or their lives are harder. IQ, well I think that's a lie. A ton of people dont test well and it's been proven that "tests" aren't nessisarily accurate portrayals of intelligence. Murderors and theives...are these the same people who want to make perole? Because they'll swear up and down to love Jesus to get to the outside after a couple of years I'm sure. So many people claim to be religious and dont read the Bible or remotely emulate their "morals". Too many factors and not enough facts.
 
I would wonder what the survey's definition of "religiousness" is. Do you happen to know it?

Secondly, I wouldn't consider wealth to be a measure of morality.
 
the statistics for "religiousness" which was covered by the question "is religion an important part of your life?". the poll was done over the telephone to over 350,000 US citizens and weighted based on population of their state to properly represent the demographics. I suppose its not 100% reliable but its not like they phoned prisons either, they just collected data and analyzed it and left it open for interpretation.

more info can be found at

http://www.gallup.com/poll/114022/state-states-importance-religion.aspx#2
 
Red_Tory said:
Secondly, I wouldn't consider wealth to be a measure of morality.
Click to expand...

i completely agree with you, i think even that most high profile business leaders may have low morals as they sometimes have to bend the truth to get to where they are.

however i consider thefts and murder a measure of morality
 
"Is religion an important part of your life?" is a very general question. I'd criticise it due to its ambiguity; you can be a militant Atheist and still say religion has is an important part of your life, based on how it affects you (although I'm sure it's not the case here - I'm just being a nit-picker).


Secondly, although I'm not completely familiar with US geography, it seems to me as though many of the states at the top of the list are southern states. Again, I'm not American, but I'd be willing to wager that there are some drastic cultural differences between the "northern" and the "southern" states, leading me to believe that you can't simply pin all of the problems on "religion".

And finally, this survey is limited to the United States, and therefore cannot give an accurate measure when discussing something so universal such as religious beliefs. Perhaps it has some value for studies strictly pertaining to the United States, but to make a generalisation about religion based on a single country is one of the most ignorant mistakes you can make when talking about universal trends, no?

For instance, I can take Switzerland - a very religious country that has, on the whole, rejected the idea of separation between church and state - has a high income, low poverty rates (I think...), low murder rates etc.

Can I then draw the conclusion that religious people on the whole are smart, peaceful and wealthy?




So basically I'd say that the information presented in that table isn't worth a whole lot, as there are many factors that contribute to income, theft, divorce rates etc., not just religion. I would also say that utilising that information, you cannot make a statement about religion around the world, since it only comes from a single nation.
 
Last edited:
I think religion in this context is vague in what type of religions. Its not saying christianity specifically or anything, there are plenty of other religions out there, under which people fall, adn it would be more acceptable to do some of the negative things listed here. The problem with surveys is the way questions are worded or presented to a person, there could be factors that include the way the person was asked the question proceeding and following it, etc. I also think it depends on what demographic of people they asked in each state for example in one they ask mostly rebublican in another its mostly democrats tehse answers are going to be skewed, same with what level of income they have, etc....
 
atheism could be considered a riligion. Hey it takes more faith to believe that we came form an ape than to think that we were created by someone.
 
1cor 1:27-28 "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,"
 
I don't think something like religion can be based on charts and polls after all God could choose the least likely to spread his word i mean look what he did with Saul he was a christian persecutor and killer and he became one of the most devoted leaders it all depend on the persons willingness to accept the lord but i guess poverty and IQ and social status could play a role in that but i still don't believe that is the main factors to religious people XD
 
i agree that the term 'religiousness' is an umbrella term, however i also think that atheists would not answer yes to the question asked. I believe it is a vague question but most of the people asked would probably know how to answer appropriately, and know what the surveyor was getting at (do you go to church, pray often, etc).

also i dont think religion is the cause of the murders/thefts. it makes sense that the people who are atleast considered by todays standards to be less intelligent would be committing murder/ stealing and would also live in poverty, these all seem to be related in some way. unintelligent people get lesser paying jobs, leading to poverty, sometimes leading to crime.

i just find it interesting that these people consider their religion an important part of their life, while those who commit less crimes, are considered more intelligent, and have less poverty do not consider religion to be important to their life. its just hard to tell what it all means, and what is (if there is) the common factor for the data.
 
Demeter said:
I have read an article that states there is a correlation between a low IQ and religiousness, however correlation does not imply causation it is still an interesting theory. I won't go into detail but looking at this picture it is clear that there seems to be something in common with religiousness, IQ, murder, poverty, and theft.


SO, what do you guys think of this data? what does it mean? is there a link between IQ, religiousness and poverty?
Click to expand...

That's bull. I have an IQ of about 101(this was a year ago) They estimated my IQ to be about 130 if I could deal with the ADD, and the anxiety disorders. BTW, I'm not talking about a internet IQ quiz. I'm talking getting one from a psychologist.
 
Thief(s). Go back to school if you cannot write a five letter word. Unless you are truely referring to the word Theif - which Urban Dictionary was kind enough to reveal the definition means; a dislesxic stealer purhson thad dunt spel too gud.

First of all this listed above are US statistics; which don't really mean a whole lot since the majority of them are retarded, or ill-intelligent.
 
Mordred said:
Thief(s). Go back to school if you cannot write a five letter word. Unless you are truely referring to the word Theif - which Urban Dictionary was kind enough to reveal the definition means; a dislesxic stealer purhson thad dunt spel too gud.

First of all this listed above are US statistics; which don't really mean a whole lot since the majority of them are retarded, or ill-intelligent.
Click to expand...

you chirp me on a typo? i guess it should be thieves really, thanks for the intelligent input.

don't worry though I'm off to class now.
 
Demeter said:
SO, what do you guys think of this data? what does it mean? is there a link between IQ, religiousness and poverty?
Click to expand...

I don't think there was enough taken into account before making this chart. For example, what are the education systems like in each state? Who are the people that are impoverished? Why are they impoverished? How populated are the states? What is their criminal justice system like? How wealthy is the state? What is the margin of error for the polls? How many people were polled from each state, and was a various group of people polled from each state?

I also have a slight problem finding a correlation between the religiousness of a person and the other data given. If you made a line-graph of the data, none of it would coincide with the religiousness column. It'd all be slightly random.

One last thing, in the USA, it is a pretty well-known fact that the New England states have better education systems than the southern states. This has nothing to do with religion. What happened is that back in the 18th and 19th century, while New England was industrializing, the south was farming. New England had public schools, and the south had random school houses here and there (mostly, children were taught by their parents or tutors). For rich white men, they always sent their sons to New England for college, because the south didn't have prestigious universities.

After slavery was abolished, the south had a great deal of catching up to do, and it never quite happened. The north still has better education systems than the south, because they had over a 100 year head start of the south.
 
Mordred said:
Thief(s). Go back to school if you cannot write a five letter word. Unless you are truely referring to the word Theif - which Urban Dictionary was kind enough to reveal the definition means; a dislesxic stealer purhson thad dunt spel too gud.

First of all this listed above are US statistics; which don't really mean a whole lot since the majority of them are retarded, or ill-intelligent.
Click to expand...



Let's not be grammar Nazis here. I'd wager that someone could easily rummage through your posting history and some mistakes.
 
lil-rush said:
I don't think there was enough taken into account before making this chart. For example, what are the education systems like in each state? Who are the people that are impoverished? Why are they impoverished? How populated are the states? What is their criminal justice system like? How wealthy is the state? What is the margin of error for the polls? How many people were polled from each state, and was a various group of people polled from each state?

I also have a slight problem finding a correlation between the religiousness of a person and the other data given. If you made a line-graph of the data, none of it would coincide with the religiousness column. It'd all be slightly random.

One last thing, in the USA, it is a pretty well-known fact that the New England states have better education systems than the southern states. This has nothing to do with religion. What happened is that back in the 18th and 19th century, while New England was industrializing, the south was farming. New England had public schools, and the south had random school houses here and there (mostly, children were taught by their parents or tutors). For rich white men, they always sent their sons to New England for college, because the south didn't have prestigious universities.

After slavery was abolished, the south had a great deal of catching up to do, and it never quite happened. The north still has better education systems than the south, because they had over a 100 year head start of the south.
Click to expand...

I agree somewhat, each data point was taken by a different source, not by the chart maker themselves. This does mean that each study was somewhat concentrated on each subject. The data such as murder rates, thefts, i see having a hard time screwing up though.

also i dont think religion is the cause of the poverty/lower IQ. It may be due to some historical events that i am unaware of or through education generations slowly started losing faith.

oh and i made some line graphs(cause i really have nothing better to do) but i dont really feel like posting them. theres some correlation, maybe moderate at best. the middle states seem to have more random stats which makes it a more random line but it still has an obvious direction.
 
HERE'S MY OPINION, RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ARE STUPID, IT'S LIKE FOLLOWING THE HERD OVER THE BRIDGE
ESPECIALLY CATHOLICS
I USED TO GO TO CATHOLIC CHURCH WHEN I WAS A CHILD AND THE WHOLE TIME I WAS LIKE THIS IS STUPID, I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE SAYING, IT ISN'T RELAVENT TO MY LIFE, AND THEY ARE HYPOCRITES. GOD SAW BEHIND THEIR APPEARANCES
 
Yes thats true but even so as Non Violent Christians all we can do is spread our word to them we have to remember we cant force Gods gift on anyone we can simply spread it if they take it or not is totally up to them
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back